Telangana Buys 32 Cars for Bureaucrats at Rs 11 Crore, Oppn Attacks Govt for Splurging During Covid

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has bought Kia Carnival cars for 32 Additional Collectors at a cost of Rs 11 crore, drawing flak from the opposition parties of Congress and the BJP. This comes at a time when the state is reeling under a debt of around Rs 40,000 crore and a severe Covid-19 pandemic.

A video of the event shows CM K Chandrasekhar Rao inspecting the vehicles and the cars were flagged off on Sunday by Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar in the presence of the state Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other officials at the CM’s residence in Hyderabad. The 32 Kia Carnival cars are estimated to cost around Rs 25-30 lakh each.

BJP denounced the decision of the KCR government to present the luxury cars to the Additional collectors of the state. “This splurge of public money is happening in the midst of the global pandemic while the poor and common people are dying out of debt burden of Covid hospitalization. How can Chief Minister Rao justify spending over 11 crores to buy 32 ultra-luxury vehicles?” Krishna Saagar Rao, BJP Spokesperson questioned the state government.

“How can a state show this kind of opulence when there is revenue deficit? BJP is asking it is what you are taking loans for?” Rao added. He added that the party demands immediate roll back of the decision.

Congress also attacked the Chief Minister and called out the “audacity” of the move.

“As such KCR has pushed the surplus state of Telangana into a debt trap state with a whopping debt of Rs 40,000 crore. They already have government cars in good condition,” Congress’s D Sravan Kumar reportedly said.

Last month, state finance Minister T Harish Rao had asked the Centre to increase borrowing limit of the State from the present three per cent to five per cent under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act. He added that the expenditure of the State has increased and the revenues decreased due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.

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