New Delhi: Sakhet Gjokale, an activist on Tuesday cited an RTI reply claiming that the Delhi government spent Rs 6 crore on its Laxmi Puja event and live telecast on Diwali this year.
Sharing a copy of the alleged RTI reply, the activist took to Twitter and wrote: "Delhi AAP Govt. spent 6 crores (approx $0.8 million) of taxpayer money for the Laxmi Puja event & its live telecast done by @ArvindKejriwal on 14 November, 2020. This whopping cost of 6 crores public money was for a 30-minute puja. Thats 20 lakh rupees per minute."
The RTI reply by the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited also acknowledged the query that the Laxmi Puja was an official event of the Delhi government. The CM had appealed to people not to burst firecrackers during Diwali, and instead asked them to join him and his ministers in a 'Laxmi Pujan' programme to be organised by the AAP government. The mega event that saw participation by Chief Minister Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues along with their wives at Akshardham Temple in Delhi was telecast live.
In his subsequent tweet, Gokhale wrote, "Most important: The AAP Govt in Delhi had public money to spend on this while victims of the Delhi Pogrom await compensation. Do the math & imagine how many families in North East Delhi could've had their lives back with this 6 crores spent on a religious ceremony."
Several taxpayers replied to his tweets and vented their anger on who gave the CM the right to spend their money and questioned why there were no law provisions that looked into the wastage of the public's money.