At a time when government has promulgated an austerity drive, it is absurd to learn that 35 lakhs has been spent to upgrade two toilets in Yojana Bhavan and shocking to find Chairman of the Planning Commission of India saying that it is unfortunate that routine maintenance work is called wasteful expenditure! This is the same person who has officially stated that Rs28/day is the basis for defining poverty in India in these days of high inflation , and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities. After a public furor later revised to Rs 32/- to classify a person as non-poor. The government pension scheme expects a destitute senior citizen to survive on just Rs6.66 /day! All this when at least 60% of our population do not have decent toilets to access and many have to defecate in the open. Millions starve whilst food grains rot or are siphoned off for poultry feed. And no one is punished or made accountable with consequences for punishment and recovery! It is also reported that the exchequer has been depleted by around 1 lakh per day when the Chairman's is on frequent foreign travel,not counting the Limousines and other expenditure by the Embassies.There is a big gap between the filthy rich and miserable poor and it appears those in the Planning Commission live life kingsize and are completely out of touch with the real India. The States will not tolerate the arrogance of the Centre and the common man will not tolerate such wastage of public funds!It is high time this realization sinks in before people get really angry and things get out of hand!
