“Every citizen of the State should contribute at least a brick towards the construction of the new capital. They should contribute financially towards the new State,” says Chandrababu Naidu while lamenting the financial crisis the state is going through apart from the complete lack of support from the Centre to the AP.
Fine! So, what should the government do in a financial crisis? Exercise prudence in expenditure. Right? But that is not what the government of AP believes in.
It has now decided to gift iPhone 6 smart phones to all the 175 MLA’s in the Assembly. This will cost the exchequer Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. Though it is a regular practice for all successive governments to present expensive gifts to MLA’s during budget sessions, given the present financial position of AP, could not the tradition be dispensed with?
And more than the MLA’s, it is their family and relatives who end up using such gifts, a fact admitted by the MLA’s themselves off-the-record. Why should the tax payers money be used to pamper the legislators?
