Financial crisis solved after CM intervened, govt sanctions Rs 30,500 spent for Minister Bindu’s glasses

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government issued an order sanctioning Rs 30,500 spent for buying spectacles to Higher Education Minister R Bindu. She bought her glasses in last April. Though she gave an application along with the bill to the Public Administration Department for sanctioning the amount, money was not released citing financial crisis. Reports said that after a complaint was raised about this, the chief minister intervened and released the money. When the government is struggling to pay for welfare pensions etc due to financial crisis, objections are being raised from many quarters against the government for releasing the money spent on buying glasses.

Even during the previous Pinarayi government, ministers used government benefits to buy glasses. The then speaker Sreeramakrishnan had obtained Rs 49,900 for new glasses and this had caused a lot of criticism. The then health minister K K Shailaja had spent Rs 29,000 to buy glasses.

The government had recently submitted an affidavit in the high court mentioning the financial crisis faced by the government. The court had criticized it in harsh language. The court observed that the affidavit was an insult to Kerala. The government gave the affidavit in the case related to the financial liability of the Kerala Transport Development Financial Corporation (KTDFC).