Some items sold at even one-tenth cost of raw materials
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL
It refers to shocking RTI response revealing that certain food-items like stew-vegetables at Parliament canteens are sold even at just one-tenth of cost of raw-materials used (sale-price rupees 4 against raw-material cost of rupees 41.25) in preparing these with preparation-cost, staff-salary and other overheads not included in such cost. It accounted for a heavy subsidy of rupees 14 crores accounted to budget-grant for Lok Sabha Secretariat for fiscal-year 2013-14. Only chapati priced at rupee one has raw-material cost of just 77 paise below the sale-price. Why not provide chapatti free-of-cost to eliminate the only exception for benefit of our law-makers who through their own constituted committee decide burdening public-exchequer funded by tax-payers’ hard-earned money for such undeserving subsidy for themselves in Parliament-canteens.
Charity should begin at home when Union government is rightly concentrating on cutting away subsidy-regime. Subsidy on food-items in Parliament-canteen should be immediately abolished. Salaries and allowances available to Parliamentarians are sufficient to afford normal food-prices without subsidy especially when even people below poverty-line have to spend much more on food-prices. However to counter argument about necessity of having such subsidised prices because of Parliamentarians spending cost of food on rare occasions of extending day’s session beyond dinner-time, Parliamentarians may be provided free meal in case of session extended till late evening.
Parliament-canteen should be run on no-profit/no-loss basis by forming a co-operative society of Parliamentarians. It will also be able to check food-quality where several Parliamentarians have raised concern on food-quality in Parliament canteen. All this will be in interest of Parliamentarians themselves to remove general public-perception about them for misuse of government-facilities.
