ET Report
JAMMU, July 29: Finally, the place where the congress leaders could buy their meal for Rs. 12, Rs. 5 and Re 1 has been discovered; and the place is the canteen of Parliament at New Delhi, where these MPs get Veg Thali for Rs. 12.50 and one Rumali roti @ Re. 1. Surprisingly this is the rate list of the canteen of the Indian Parliament, run by Indian Railways Catering and tourism Corporation (IRCTC) ltd., for which the government is paying 3.27 Lakh per day as subsidy.
In a reply to queries by Jammu based RTI activist Raman Sharma, to Public Information Officer (PIO) Lok Sabha Secretariat on May 14, 2013, about the rate list of the eatables and the subsidy given by the government to run the privileged canteen, K Sona, Under Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat, vide letter No. 1(588)IC/13, Dated: July 3, 2013 informed that the Government has paid Rs.11.94 Crores in the financial Year 2011-12, as subsidy to the IRCTC to run the canteen on the subsidized rates, where the parliamentarians gets Dosa for Rs. 4, Shami Kabab for Rs. 14, Rumali Roti (Chapati) for Re. 1, Fried Dal for Rs. 3 ,Pizza for Rs. 20, and many other delicacies at very cheaper rates.
According to the reply, in 2000-01 subsidies to the same canteen was Rs. 2 crores, which is increasing every year, however the rate list of the canteen has been revised only thrice in 13 years. The rate list was last revised in December 2010, though the rates of the essential commodities have increased by more than 50 percent till date since 2010.
"The government is talking about cutting its subsidy bills and rising Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene prices, but why don't they put cap on their own canteen subsidy?," asked Raman Sharma, the RTI activist.
"Every bite in the canteen for the parliamentarian is making platter of the poor people of the country lighter," he added.
Sharma further said that if they can provide food to the parliamentarians at this rate, they should also make similar canteens at old age homes, orphanages, for BPL categories and in schools and Colleges. |
