Lokpal Floats Tender For Rs 5 Crore Luxury BMWs For Members
Lokpal has stirred controversy by floating a tender for 7 luxury BMWs for the senior members of the ombudsman
New Delhi: Anti-graft ombudsman Lokpal has floated a tender to procure seven luxurious BMW cars, collectively worth around Rs 5 crore. The Lokpal's office is in Delhi's Vasant Kunj Institutional Area and at present has seven members, including a chairman and six members, against its sanctioned strength of eight.
"The Lokpal of India invites open tenders from reputed agencies for supply of seven BMW 3 series 330Li M Sport model cars to the Lokpal of India," read the tender proposal document dated October 16. The on-road price of the said car is around Rs 69.5 lakh in New Delhi, and after the cars are delivered, BMW will provide at least seven days of training to the Lokpal’s official drivers and staff, on how to use the car and instruct them on their proper operation.
The training programme, including trainer honorarium, travel, accommodation (if required), fuel, materials, and logistics, shall be borne exclusively by the vendor. No additional expenditure shall be incurred by the Lokpal of India," it added. The last date to submit the bid is November 6, and bidders will have to deposit earnest money of Rs 10 lakh. The Lokpal is established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013, to investigate allegations of corruption against public officials.
The news led to a social media outage among netizens and the opposition, criticizing the move to purchase luxury cars for the ombudsman.Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan taking to X said that," The institution of Lokpal has been ground to dust by the Modi govt, by keeping it vacant for many years & then appointing servile members who are not bothered by graft & are happy with their luxuries. They are now buying 70L BMW cars for themselves! ", he stated.
Congress National Spokesperson AICC, Dr. Shama Mohamed, was also quick to respond to this move by the Lokpal to purchase BMWs. This is the same institution that was supposed to fight corruption after the so-called “India Against Corruption” movement — a movement backed by the RSS and designed only to bring down the Congress government, she wrote on X.
Social media users also criticized the move by the anti-corruption body to purchase high-end luxury cars for its members. “ The Lokpal was born out of a movement screaming against corruption, now it’s cruising around in Rs 5 crore BMWs, chauffeured by hypocrisy. From watchdog to lapdog. Integrity didn’t just die; it was run over,” one user commented.
One Netizen wrote, “Why not have swadeshi vehicles for lokpal?", while another user said, "Buying BMWs for Govt Officials is too much? This is not the way the tax payers money has to be spent. They must use made in Cars."
