While the government wants India to tighten its belt, the Planning Commission can afford to, well, flush with cash. On Wednesday, Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that Rs 35 lakh spent on two toilets in his office was not public money down the drain. Ahluwalia explained that these were not toilets, but "toilet complexes." Each of these complexes can accommodate 10 people at a time. He did not specify whether taxpayers would...
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Plan panel rejects stink on toilets
-PTI The Planning Commission today clarified that Rs 35 lakh wasn’t spent on two of its toilets but an entire block of lavatories under “routine maintenance” and said it was “unfortunate” to call it wasteful expenditure. “While the amount of Rs 35 lakh being mentioned (in an RTI reply) is correct, an impression is being created that this has been spent on two toilets. This is totally false because these toilet blocks...
More »Planning Commission splurges Rs 35 lakh to upgrade 2 toilets-Himanshi Dhawan
The Yojana Bhavan toilets are causing a stink of a different kind. The Planning Commission, which estimated a poverty line figure of Rs 28 per day per person, lavished Rs 35 lakh on refurbishing two toilets in its headquarters. For good measure, the commission has admitted in an RTI response, it has spent Rs 5.19 lakh in installing an access control system in the toilets. The facility, installed while the toilets...
More »Planning Commission toilets renovated at Rs 35 lakh
-PTI Planning Commission, which is mired in a controversy over what constitutes the poverty line, has spent a whopping Rs 35 lakh for renovation of two toilets in New Delhi, an RTI reply has revealed. The Commission, which came up with a controversial poverty line figure of Rs 28 per day for an individual, has spent Rs 30 lakh for the renovation of the toilets on the lines of Indira Gandhi International...
More »Bill Gates, central govt to focus on rural sanitation
-The Economic Times His company's software has, over the decades, enabled legions of Indian youth to become computer engineers, and helped the country lay claim to IT superpower status. With luck, his fortune now may help the country achieve something much more basic. The global charity founded on the fortune of software billionaire Bill Gates is joining hands with the Indian government to improve sanitation in rural areas where nearly 60% of...
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