The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Over Rs. 15 crore spent on Sonia’s meetings in Andhra

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Saturday, Sep 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Over Rs. 15 crore spent on Sonia’s meetings in Andhra

Diversion of RTC buses leaves commuters stranded

HYDERABAD: A whopping amount of over Rs. 15 crore was spent by the Andhra Pradesh government and the Congress party on transportation alone for the meetings addressed by AICC president Sonia Gandhi in Tirupati and Anantapur on Thursday.

A total of 4,350 APSRTC buses, constituting nearly one-fourth of its total fleet, were diverted for the meetings.

Additionally, the Congress party managers hired 1,000 buses of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) for their party rally in Anantapur. This massive diversion of buses left other commuters stranded at several places in Tirupati and adjoining districts. Pilgrims to Tirumala in particular were left high and dry as they had to put up with an agonising wait for the buses.

The Congress has publicly admitted that the government spent Rs. nine crore on hiring buses for the Tirupati meeting alone.

Justifying this expenditure, the party said that the Rural Development department that was implementing the Indira Kranti Patham made payment for using the services of the other government entity.

At the end of the day, it was a bonanza for the APSRTC and KSRTC which earned a revenue of Rs. 9.60 crore and 1.80 crore respectively from the two meetings.

Compare this with the APSRTC’s average daily earning of Rs. 11.07 crore from its entire fleet of over 19,000 buses.

Apart from hiring close to 1,750 APSRTC buses, the Congress leaders in Anantapur pressed into service another 4,000 private buses, lorries, mini vans and maxi cabs to bring people for the meeting. This again cost the party around Rs. 4 crore.

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