15 ministers spend 2 crores to refurbish their office

At a time when the state government is facing financial crunch and the govt itself advising reductions in expenses, the ministers themselves are seem to be indulging themselves by refurbishing their offices. Minister of state for housing Mr Ravindra Waikar and PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil are taking a lead in the spending of Rs 2 crores by in all 15 ministers. This information was provided to RTI activist Anil Galgali by the government. RTI activist Anil Galgali had sought information from the state government regarding the expenses on refurbishing of the office by the new ministers. The GAD dept refused to provide information on the first application, on which an appeal was filed by Galgali. A hearing was conducted on the appeal in which the following information was provided. Out of the 28 ministers 9 cabinet and 6 ministers of state in all spent Rs 2 crores. Of the 2 crores Rs 1 crore 74 lakhs 74 thousand 401 was spent on permanent fixtures and Rs 25 lakhs 16 thousand 438 was spent on light fixtures. The highest expenditures was incurred by Ravindra Waikar on his office, which was Rs 33 lakhs 99 thousand 170 followed by Chandrakant Patil who spent Rs 31 lakhs 88 thousand 67.12. Followed by tribal minister Vishnu Sawra 20 lakhs 48 thousand 271.80, Schools education minister Vinod Tawde spent Rs 20 lakhs 24 thousand 755, MOS Home Dr Ranjit Patil spent 15 lakhs 53 thousand 450, Housing minister Prakash Mehta spent 14 lakhs 27 thousand 906.16, irrigation minister Girish Mahajan 13 lakhs 43 thousand 127. This is the break up of how various ministers spent between 13-33 lakhs on their office refurbishing There are also some minister who spent between 2-10 lakhs on office refurbishing they are as follows MOS for women and children welfare Mrs Vidya Thakur (9,98,314), mos revenue Sanjay Rathod (9,96,396), PWD minister Eknath Shinde (9,92,714), social welfare minister Rajkumar Badole (4,83,864), MOS social welfare Dilip Kamble (4,67,864), Food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat (4,46,798), MOS Finance Deepak Kesarkar (4,00336), Power Minister Chandra shekhar Bawankule (2,19,750) The information on expenses incurred by the new ministers were refused by the govt. This was only provided in a appeal, it is also come to know that no administration approvals were taken for carrying out the expenses of refurbishing of the offices by the ministers going up to 2 crores, which makes the refurbishing work illegal expressed Galgali. Anil Galgali further stated that,  Ministers who are entrusted with the responsibility of framing laws are themselves breaking laws that too in the mantralaya itself. In a complaint letter addressed to CM Devendra Fadnavis Galgali has questioned the motives of the ministers who at one end claim that the coffers of the government is empty and on the other end are splurging on luxurious office refurbishment.