Srinagar, Jan 06: Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti had spent about Rs 82 lakh on furniture and utensils in addition to the decorations of the government bungalow in just 6 months during his tenure.
This information has been revealed in response to an RTI enquiry. The expenditure was all paid by the Government of India, reveals an RTI response.
According to information, Mufti spent Rs 82 lakh to buy bedsheets, furniture, TV and other items when she was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state. Out of this, Rs 28 lakh were spent on buying carpet in a single day.
Inam-un-Nabi Soudagar, Inam, a resident of Srinagar (Sri Nagar), had asked for this information by putting an RTI. After this, the Protocol and Hospitality Department has given point-wise details of the expenses incurred on government housing between January and June 2018 after Mehbooba Mufti became the Chief Minister.
In June 2018 alone, she spent more than Rs 25 lakh on various items, including LED TVs worth Rs 22 lakh.
News agency IANS accessed a copy of the RTI response dated September 1, 2020, which showed expenses worth Rs 14 lakh on January 30, 2017. The item included a garden umbrella worth Rs 2,94,314.
The RTI response further reveals that bedsheets worth Rs 11,62,000 were purchased on February 22, 2018.
In March 2018, Mufti spent nearly Rs 56 lakh, including Rs 25 lakh on furniture and nearly Rs 28 lakh on the carpets.
The purchases also involved cutlery items worth Rs 40 lakh in a period of two years, from August 2016 to July 2018.
The details come after the successful completion of recently held District Development Council elections in the union territory, which Mehbooba Mufti’s party Peoples Democratic Party had vowed to abandon until Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was restored.
However, Mufti’s party did contest the elections in which it managed to get only 27 out of 280 District Development Council seats. (With IANS Inputs)
