RTI activist: Rs 42L for Speaker's table, chair at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha

Belagavi: Right To Information (RTI) Act activist Bhimappa Gadad has said that government has made huge spending of Rs 42,93,940 for chairs and tables of Legislative Assembly Speaker and Rs 1,98,240 for replacing old plywood and cushion of the seat of Legislative Council Chairman at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.

The Government has also spent Rs 67,67,964 for oil paintings of dignitaries in the Legislative Assembly hall of the state’s second secretariat.

Gadad told reporters here on Friday that spendings cross the past records. In 2012, a sum of Rs 36,60,000 was spent for seat and equipment for the president who had come to inaugurate Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. Information of the spendings made have been obtained under RTI Act.

He said, that Rs 13,34,564 had been spent for seven oil paintings of dignitaries on February 27, 2023. These have been installed at the Legislative Assembly hall. Later citing that the faces do not match with the personalities, government released another Rs 28,49,200 on October 25, 2024 for the oil paintings which have been made by artists of repute.