As per RTI, Modi spends whooping 73 lakhs on second swearing-in ceremony

Bengaluru: A total of Rs 73 lakh was spent on the second swearing-in ceremony of PM Narendra Modi in 2019, according to a report received under the Right to Information Act. Around Rs 3 crore was spent on mobile toilets, sound and lighting arrangements and floral decorations at the function held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan This was revealed in a report filed by RTI activist T Narasimha Murthy.

After Modi was sworn in for a second term on May 30, 2019, Murthy filed a RTI application seeking the expense of the swearing-in ceremony. Murthy demanded details of the cost expenditure for tea party, veg and non-veg food, transportation, sound, light, floral arrangements and invitations. The report was received after forwarding the application to the Secretariat of the President, the Department of Horticulture under the Central Public Works Department and the Estate Division of the President. According to the reply received from the Secretariat of the President dated July 5, 2019, there is no separate account for individual functions and the expenditure is allocated from the annual budget allotted to the Secretariat.

However, on July 19, 2019, Murthy wrote a letter to the Rashtrapati Bhavan stating that the reply was unsatisfactory. Following this, on August 8, 2019, the Office of the Executive Engineer of the President's Estate of the Union Public Works Department released the amount spent on mobile toilets from the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Murthy also filed an appeal with the Central Information Commission on November 15, 2019, alleging that he was not provided the details he had requested. Following this, he received information that Rs 73 lakh had been spent on the swearing-in ceremony on December 20, 2021. A total of Rs 73,15,505 was spent on mobile toilets, light and sound and floral arrangements. While Rs 32,11,953 was spent on mobile toilets, Rs 11,79,750 was spent on temporary lighting, Rs 18,63,744 on sound system, Rs 10,60,058 on floral arrangements and plant display. Murthy, however, said the figures are incomplete as it excluded details of expenditure on transport, hospitality, CCTV and invitations. He has written a letter to the Chief Information Commissioner Y K Sinha seeking the same.