Telangana continues to reel under a debt of Rs 1.80 lakh crore, but Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is planning to splurge Rs 66 crore on an Iftar party. This has stirred a controversy in Telangana and social activists approached the Hyderabad High Court on Friday (June 8) over the CM's plan to hold the event.
Social activists call it 'squander of funds'
The activists in a statement have dubbed the event, which is scheduled to take place at Hyderabad's Fateh Maidan on Friday evening, as the Telangana government's way of politicising the issue.
"Iftar is a personal affair of a Muslim and the government is politicising it. If the government wants to show that it cares about minorities and communal harmony, then all ration card holders who are Below Poverty Line (BPL) can be given dry fruits through Public Distribution System (PDS)," The News Minute quoted their statement.
The activists have also called the spending of Rs 66 crore on Iftar parties as a "squander of funds".
"It is a shame that such a squander of funds and insensitivity to 'minority welfare' is being sanctioned through the Budget being passed by lawmakers of all political parties without any question on the need of Rs 60 crore being allocated for a feast," they said in their statement.
At the beginning of the week, the state government had sanctioned Rs 15 crore to make necessary arrangements for the event which will be attended by around 7,000 guests.
However, this is not the first time that CM KCR is spending crores on extravagant Iftar parties. He has been hosting such events since 2015.
The money spent on the party will burn a significant hole in the state treasury pocket, which has already witnessed mounting debts.
According to the Budget 2018-19, which was tabled in the Assembly in March, the debt has increased by 5.21 percent since 2015-16. The debt was 16.18 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2015-16 (Rs 93,155 crore) and increased to 21.39 percent (Rs 1.80 lakh crore) in 2018-19.
