Rs 1.92 cr spent on renovating chief minister's houses, office

Rs 7.17 crore splurged on sprucing up ministers’ quarters, offices and furniture.

The State government spent Rs 1.92  crore on renovating the two official residences and home office of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from June to December 2013.

In a written reply to K Gopaliah of the JD(S) in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa said Rs 1.72 crore was spent on renovating Siddaramaiah’s present residence ‘Kaveri’ to which he moved last December. Rs 9.9 lakh was spent on renovating the chief minister’s previous residence (Kumara Krupa-1 South) and Rs 9.8 lakh on his home office (‘Krishna’ or KK-2).

In all, the government spent a total of Rs 7.17 crore since June 2013 on renovating ministers’ official quarters and offices and purchasing furniture. It has, however, not given any explanation for why the renovation was taken up.

Another Rs 40 lakh was spent on purchasing furniture for ministers’ residences.
Of the Rs 2.23 crore spent on renovating ministers’ offices in Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha, the highest sum (Rs 13.39 lakh) was spent on H C Mahadevappa’s office, followed by those of M B Patil (Rs 12.14 lakh) and T B Jayachandra (Rs 11.5 lakh). Only two ministers, K Abhayachandra and Babu Rao Chinchansur, stay at the Legislators’ Home. 

Four ministers — Ramalinga Reddy, Umashree, R Roshan Baig and D K Shivakumar — have opted to stay in their own homes. Ministers who do not stay in official residences are eligible for a monthly house rent allowance of Rs 50,000.