New Delhi: In the last four financial years, including two constrained by the pandemic, the Lok Sabha secretariat saved ₹801 crore from its budgetary allocation through cost-cutting measures such as curbing physical gatherings, use of electric vehicles and reduction in subsidies. Parliament Canteen.
The austerity measures driven by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla have saved “Rs 801.46 crore or about 25% of the budgetary provision” during the first four years of the 17th Lok Sabha, constituted in May 2019, a Parliament official said. condition of anonymity.
A second official, who did not wish to be named, said, “This is the biggest cost cut ever in Parliament.”
“An amount of ₹258.47 crore was saved during the financial year 2021-22. During the last financial year, ₹132.60 crore, which is about 17% of the budgetary provision, was saved,” according to a note from the Lok Sabha Secretariat. “Comparing this with the previous Lok Sabha, there was a saving of ₹7.01 crore during the 12th Lok Sabha. ₹ 99.52 crore, ₹ 145.07 crore, ₹ 94.17 crore and ₹ 461 crore were saved during 13th to 16th Lok Sabha.
The current Lok Sabha, which will end in May next year, had to restrict outreach programs and cancel the 2020 monsoon session as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across India. All the eight sessions of Parliament from 2020 to 2022 were prorogued due to COVID-19 and other issues.
Some measures like online conferences were introduced during the pandemic. For more than three months, MPs and officials were unable to attend Parliament due to COVID-related restrictions.
“Cost savings due to introduction of efficiency in administrative setup, use of EVs, video conferences in place of physical meetings, reduced travel expenses, online programs by PRIDE or Research and Training Cell, reduction in printing work, e-waste management, digital payments , GeM based procurement and savings in canteen resulted in huge savings in our budget,” said another official.
Soon after becoming the speaker in June 2019, Birla started efforts to curb the use of paper, files and other physical documents. “Earlier, we used to get 20 reams of paper for printing. Now we have been allotted just two rims for a year,” said a departmental head seeking anonymity. Hard copies of the Bills or the Union Budget are no longer available; Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took it a step further to use a tablet to read her budget speech.
Similarly, the Indian Tourism Development Corporation will replace the Northern Railway in 2021 to run the Parliament canteen. The subsidy was terminated as the new contractor started selling the food at market rate.
In addition, the fuel-guzzling SUV used to transport MPs to New Delhi was discarded and more electric vehicles were introduced by Birla as a major cost-saving measure.
A spokesperson for the Lok Sabha said cost-cutting measures would continue in the future to create a greener and more efficient Parliament.
