Tag: expenditure

BJP, AAP trade barbs over expenditure on renovation of Kejriwal’s official residence

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New Delhi: The political slugfest over the alleged Rs 45 crore expenditure on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence intensified on Wednesday, with the BJP accusing him of building a “palace of corruption” while the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the BJP was trying to divert attention from real issues.
In a dig at the AAP founder and Delhi chief minister, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called him a “Maharaj” and said even kings will bow to Kejriwal for his choice of “superior” products at the residence and his “lust for luxury and comfort”.
It is not only about the renovation of the residence but also of the Aam Aadmi Party’s ideology and its leaders’ mindset, he alleged.

AAP leaders including MLA Naresh Balyan shared on social media purported videos of the rubble that had fallen off from the roof of the chief minister’s old residence and claimed the house built in 1942 was in a state of disrepair.
The BJP alleged that Kejriwal, who had claimed to promote honesty and simplicity while entering politics, has built a “palace of corruption”.
This is the story of a king who is “shameless”, Patra said, in a counter to Kejriwal’s recent attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Delhi Assembly where he mocked the top BJP leader by narrating a story of a king.
Patra also alleged that Kejriwal offered Rs 20 crore to Rs 50 crore to media houses to not highlight the story but news channels and newspapers ignored the offer.
Hitting back at the BJP, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said at a press conference that it was trying to divert attention from important issues.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence was built in 1942 and the roof had collapsed thrice, Singh said.
Following the roof collapse incidents, the Public Works Department (PWD) suggested a new house be built and this was done, he said claiming Rs 30 crore was spent on the rebuilt house.
Kejriwal has been occupying the official residence- at 6 Flagstaff Road in the Civil Lines area after becoming chief minister in 2015. The residence also has the chief minister’s camp office spread over a 5000 square metre area, officials said.
A group of Delhi BJP leaders, including its general secretary Kuljeet Chahal, were pushed away by staff and security personnel when they were holding a symbolic protest outside the chief minister’s official residence.
The BJP leaders also alleged that “private” security staff had misbehaved with a news channel reporter.
Meanwhile, sources claimed that the expenditure of Rs. 44.78 crore on the renovation of Kejriwal’s official residence involved a “blatant violation” of government financial rules (GFRs) through the “connivance” of then PWD ministers and officials of the department.
“One is forced to wonder as to why an expenditure of about Rs.45 crore was not incurred through a single tender and work order. The answer lies in the fact that doing so would have involved due processes of an open tender, thereby making the clandestine exercise public,” a source claimed.
No official reaction was available from the AAP government over the fresh charges.
The sources further claimed that the engineer-in-chief of PWD and the PWD secretary were kept out of the loop in the exercise undertaken to renovate Kejriwal’s bungalow.
“The files were sent directly to the PWD minister without routing through the engineer in chief and secretary of PWD, with the sole aim of subverting laid down procedures so that the project does not exceed Rs 10 crore and become a public document,” the source alleged.
The sources claimed that documents establish that all five work orders regarding the renovation of the residence were below Rs 10 crore – Rs 7.92 crore, Rs 1.64 crore, Rs 9.09 crore, Rs 8.68 crore. and Rs. 9.34 core, approved between September 2020 and June 2022.
The expenditure sanctioned for renovating the camp office at the chief minister’s residence also amounted to Rs. 9.99 core, marginally below the Rs 10 crore limit, they said.
Citing documents, Patra said marble worth over Rs 1.15 crore was brought from Vietnam while Rs 4 core was spent on pre-fabricated wooden walls.
Senior AAP leaders defended the renovation work saying pieces from the roof of the room where Kejriwal’s parents lived, his bedroom and the room where he meets people had fallen off.
“Since yesterday, there have been attempts to divert attention from key issues such as the Pulwama attack and the Adani matter by discussing the chief minister’s residence. It was an 80-year-old house constructed in 1942. There had been not one but three instances of the roof collapsing,” Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
Singh also hit out at Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, saying his residence underwent repairs worth Rs 15 crore.
“Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani’s aircraft cost Rs 191 crore while Rs 65 crore was spent on buying an aircraft for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” he claimed.
The BJP had on Tuesday claimed that about Rs 45 crore was spent on the “beautification” of Kejriwal’s official residence and demanded his resignation on “moral” grounds.
Congress leader Ajay Maken had also raised questions on Kejriwal’s right to remain in his position.
Listing out the promises made by Kejriwal, Maken said he had claimed that he would not use a car with a red beacon or request security beyond what is necessary for a common citizen and would refuse a large bungalow and instead live in an ordinary house.
“Despite naming his party ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ (common man’s party) and making these pledges, Mr Kejriwal spent a fortune on his bungalow when the people of Delhi were desperately seeking oxygen cylinders during the COVID pandemic,” he alleged.
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#BJP #AAP #trade #barbs #expenditure #renovation #Kejriwals #official #residence
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 26, 2023
Eid Market: Three Days Saw Modest Rs 2500 Cr Expenditure

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SRINAGAR: With Eid being celebrated on Saturday, the markets are expected to make some good business on Friday, the last day of Ramzan fasting. Markets suffered severely in the last three days because of the downpour.
In the last three days, Jammu and Kashmir Bank officials said the people withdrew an amount of Rs 2510 crore through 59.72 lakh transactions. This was despite the fact that the bank’s online operations exhibited a serious crisis, putting its customers at embarrassment in the market.
Officials said there were 1344650 card transactions – including the ATM card, that saw a withdrawal of Rs 548.18 crore. Besides, there were 21411158 UPI transactions involving the transfer of Rs 355.99 crore. Most of the transfers, however, took place through MPay which saw 2486449 transactions involving Rs 1605 crore.
Markets sources said the transactions are actually indicating the market mess. “We used to have three times more of this expenditure in the few days ahead of Eid,” one major trader said. “It indicates that people lack enough resources and they are avoiding expenditure.”
Besides, the markets saw very modest crowds in the last three days, apparently because of the frequent rains and fall in temperature.
The priority of the people, however, is on purchasing the items of routine requirement, mostly flood. Only a small fraction of people are making purchases in apparel and other things.
Till evening, it seemed as if it was the last day of Eid. However. The Shawaal crescent was not found anywhere. In Saudi Arabia, the Eid crescent was seen and the region will have Eid on Friday. Indian subcontinent usually celebrates Eid the day after. This day is expected to help markets in making some business.

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#Eid #Market #Days #Modest #Expenditure
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 20, 2023
I-T finds bougus expenditure of Rs 1K cr during raids in Karnataka

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New Delhi: The Income Tax Department on Tuesday said that they recently carried out a search and seizure operation at 16 different locations in a case involving some Cooperative Banks in Karnataka, which led to the recovery of valuable and incriminating documents, and the detection of Rs 1,000 crore bogus expenditure.
An I-T official said that these Cooperative Banks have been found to be engaged in routing of funds of various business entities of their customers, in a manner so as to abet them to evade their tax liabilities.
The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of over Rs 3.3 crore and unaccounted gold jewellery worth over Rs 2 crore.

A large amount of incriminating evidence in the form of hard copy documents and soft copy data have been found and seized during the search action.
The seized evidence revealed that these Cooperative Banks were involved in rampantly discounting bearer cheques issued by various business entities in the name of various fictitious non-existing entities.
“These business entities included contractors, real estate companies, etc. No KYC norms were followed while discounting such bearer cheques. The amounts after discounting were credited in the bank accounts of certain Cooperative Societies maintained with these Cooperative Banks,” the official said.
The I-T department said that it was also detected that some Cooperative Societies subsequently withdrew funds in cash from their accounts and returned the cash to business entities. The purpose of such discounting of a large number of cheques was to mask the real source of the cash withdrawal, and to enable the business entities to book bogus expenses. In this modus operandi, Cooperative Societies have been used as a conduit.
“Using this modus operandi these business entities were also circumventing the provisions of the Income-Tax Act, which limits the allowable business expenditure incurred other than by account payee cheque. Bogus expenditure booked in this way by these beneficiary business entities could be to the tune of about Rs 1,000 crore,” the official said.

During the search, it was also found that these Cooperative Banks allowed opening FDRs by using cash deposits without adequate due diligence, and subsequently sanctioned loans using the same as collateral.
Evidence seized during the search revealed that unaccounted cash loans of over Rs 15 crore were given to certain persons.
During the search action it was learnt that the management of these Cooperative Banks have indulged in generating unaccounted money through their real estate and other businesses. This unaccounted money has been brought back in the books of account by multiple layering through these banks.
The bank funds were routed without following due diligence through various firms and entities owned by the management persons for their personal use.
Further investigation in the matter is on.
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#finds #bougus #expenditure #raids #Karnataka
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 11, 2023
Under RTI Act, Advocate seeks details of officials, meetings, expenditure spent on fake PMO official in Kashmir

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Srinagar, Apr 01: An Advocate from Srinagar has filed an application under RTI Act to seek details about expenditure spent on trips, accommodation and security of Gujarat man who impersonated as PMO official.
As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the applicant has further sought details of the officials who held “official meetings” with conman; name of departments which spent “public money” on his transportation and accommodation.
As reported earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered an inquiry to probe into various aspects related to visits of alleged Gujarat conman, Kiran Patel to Kashmir during the past months and security arrangements made during his visit.
In his application, Advocate Aamir Masoodi has sought details of total amount spent on accommodation, transportation and other expenses of Patel on his last two visits to Kashmir.
An application addressed to Designated Information Officer in the office of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, the applicant has also sought details of concerned department who has paid the whole amount on behalf of Patel on his last two visits to Kashmir.
It further sought name of government officials posted in Kashmir who had meetings with Patel during his visits to Kashmir.
Patel was arrested by Police from a five-star hotel in Srinagar for posing as an ‘additional secretary’ in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and enjoying security cover besides other hospitality. On his arrest in Srinagar, FIR No 19 of 2023 was registered against him at Police Station Nishat for criminal intention and indulging in activities by employing high degree of forged means.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar has said they were checking the lapses in the present case and action will be taken against the officer involved.

“There was negligence on the level of a field officer and action will be taken,” Kumar said, adding that the police acted quickly against Patel when they got to know about the case.
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#RTI #Act #Advocate #seeks #details #officials #meetings #expenditure #spent #fake #PMO #official #Kashmir
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

April 1, 2023
Defence expenditure was 14.08 pc of central government expenses in 2022-23: Govt

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New Delhi: In 2022-23, the defence expenditure was 14.08 percent of the central government expenses, Parliament was informed on Monday.
The expenditure-related data for 2022-23 referred to the budget estimate figures, according to data shared in a written response by Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt in Rajya Sabha.
The defence expenditure was 5,55,484 crore while the central government expenditure was 39,44,909 crore for the year 2022-23, according to the data shared by the government in the response.
The defence expenditure was 5,23,330 crore while the central government expenditure was 35,09,836 crore for 2020-21, the percentage being 14.91 percent.
In 2015-16, the defence expenditure was 3,27,096 crore while the central government expenditure was 17,90,783 crore, the percentage being 18.27 percent, as per the data.
“It is seen from above data that Defence Expenditure as a percentage of Central
Government Expenditure may appear to be decreasing due to increasing trend in the growth of Central Government Expenditure. However, Defence Expenditure is increasing in absolute terms, implying higher spending,” the minister said in his response.
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#Defence #expenditure #central #government #expenses #Govt

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 6, 2023