President A P J Abdul Kalam has set an example in saving the government money. The Prime Minister's Office too has shown concern for taxpayers.Contrary to rising expenses of every other ministry and departments, the Rashtrapati Bhawan would be spending less money in 2007-08 than 2006-07.
The total budget of the staff, household and allowances of the President would be Rs 17.64 crore (Rs 176.4 million) in the next financial year compared to the actual spending of Rs 18.39 crore (Rs 183.9 million) in the current fiscal.
In fact, even in the year ending March 31, 2006, the Rashtrapati Bhawan would manage its affairs with far less than Rs 22.85 crore provided in the government budget. Individual allowances of the President are Rs 600,000 per annum.
The Prime Minister's Office has also shown a great respect for the public money. Against an allocation of Rs 16.06 crore (Rs 160.6 million), the PMO managed its affairs with Rs 15.69 crore (Rs 156.9 million) in 2006-07, as per the official figures.However, there is a slight increase for the PMO budget in 2007-08 to Rs 16.79 crore (Rs 167.9 million).
Expenses on the Special Protection Group (taken as the total budget of the Cabinet Secretariat) protecting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other select VVIPs, including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, had overshot to Rs 154.32 crore (Rs 1.54 billion) against the target of Rs 132.41 crore (Rs 1.32 billion) in 2006-07.
However, the SPG budget has been trimmed to Rs 113.73 crore (Rs 1.13 billion) for the next year.
© Copyright 2007 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|
Advertisement
Email this Article 
Print this Article