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Haryana MLAs’ jaunts cost taxpayer Rs 32 cr
Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 12
Members of different committees of the Vidhan Sabha in Haryana spent a whopping Rs 32 crore of the taxpayer’s money between 2000 and 2012 on their TA/DA. But most jaunts of these elected representatives failed to serve the intended purpose.

According to information furnished by the state Legislative Assembly authorities in response to an application filed by RTI activist and Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch convener Subhash, members of library committees of the Haryana Assembly constituted during this period travelled across the length and breadth of the country without being able to procure/select any book for their library. Members of successive library committees of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha held meetings at Vaishno Devi, Katra, Kullu, Manali, Shimla, Kufri, Nainital, Bhakra Nangal, Haridwar, Mussoorie, Mount Abu, Amritsar, Vrindavan, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Gwalior, Sanchi, Khajuraho, Ujjain, Shirdi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Puducherry, Port Blair and others during their tenures.

But the MLAs were not able to select even a single book for the Vidhan Sabha library on most of the tours.

On other occasions, the committee members travelled to far-off places, discussed steps for the improvement of the library and returned. In some instances, they went to distant locations but could not hold meetings due to “unavoidable” circumstances. Six members of the then library committee toured Gwalior, Khajuraho, Sanchi and Ujjain from December 4 to 7, 2002, but could not select any book for the library.

On June 21, 2007, four library panel members went to Bhakra Dam at Nangal, Punjab, where, as per official records, they discussed various steps for the improvement of the library. In January 2008, three members went to Port Blair but there was no addition to the literature in the library.

The same members travelled to Chennai and Bangalore in the same month, but were not able to hold meetings with the sister committees there due to “unavoidable” circumstances.

This occurred despite the fact that before proceeding on the jaunt, the committee members had held a meeting in New Delhi to discuss the tour programme.

Book hunting