Bengaluru: An RTI application revealed that the state government is spending more than Rs 30 lakhs per month as salary for 161 staff of Raj Bhavan. More than 8 of its contract employees have been paid such a hefty amount.
As per the information provided by Raj Bhavan, many of the staff works only for the Governor Vajubhai Vala. What strikes the most is that Rs 72,750 is spent on five persons who are reportedly meant for massaging the Governor.
The governor’s office has not provided any information about the salary or pay scale of its four major posts in the office. The secretary to governor, private secretary to governor, Officer on special duty to governor and personal attendants’ salaries has not been shared with the RTI applicant.
19 staff are employed to cook, supply food to the governor’s office where they spend Rs 2,94,950. There are 4 cooks, 6 butlers and 9 bearers who provide food. There are separate employees to clean the vessels. The Governor’s office also spends Rs 1,01,850 for the 7 dhobis who wash the clothes in Raj Bhavan while the governor’s office spends Rs 1,16,400 for 8 Khalasi members who rectify damaged vessels.
Speaking about the total number of staff in governor’s office, Kalpana, secretary to the governor said, “We do not have excess staff but it is needed for Raj Bhavan to have these many employees. The Khalasi members are also used for D group works.”
Cyclist for Raj Bhavan
Even though technology and sources of communication have developed over the years, the governor’s office spends Rs 21 thousand for a cyclist who delivers posts from the governor’s office.
Kalpana said that the one who delivers posts is named referred to as a cyclist but he uses a scooter to deliver the posts or the information from Raj Bhavan.
The information officer and under secretary of the governor’s office Kalpana who had failed to provide information to the RTI activist was penalised with Rs 5 thousand by Information commission of Karnataka. The RTI was applied in October 2014 and as the information was not given , the RTI applicant went before the commission to get the details. In August 2015, the commission ordered to provide the information with the order of penalty on information officer.
Terming the governor’s post as ‘White Elephant’ T Narasimha Murthy, an human RTI activist who procured the information said, “public money is being wasted without any accountability. There are several ways to reduce the expenditure of Raj Bhavan so that the money can be used for other purposes.”
