Money down the toilet: KPSC spends ₹ 60 lakh to maintain 9 lavatories
Synopsis
KPSC records show that officers spend and average of ₹ 7.5 lakh per annum for toilet maintenance. The public service commission claims it spent ₹ 5 lakhs only for the purchase of ladders.
How much do you think it would cost to maintain all the toilets of a building in a year? A rough estimation would point to a total expenditure of ₹ 10 thousand per annum.
Suvarna News, however, unearthed a massive misappropriation of funds in the (KPSC) balance sheet and the statistics that were found are shocking!
KPSC officers reportedly spent ₹ 60 lakh rupees in the last eight years (2007-2015). That means approximately ₹7.5 lakh per year, just for the maintenance of toilets.
Now you would expect a toilet that required 7.5 lakh per year for maintenance to be luxurious like a washroom in a five star hotel, but you would be far removed from the truth; these toilets are as good as public toilets.
So how did the officers spend ₹ 60 lakh on such ordinary toilets?
A Suvarna News sting operation revealed the following details:
- In these eight years each toilet has been repaired 12 times
- For each repair, KPSC officers have spent ₹ 5 lakh, on an average
- The expenditure is 7.5 times more than toilet maintenance at the MNC companies; where multi-national companies spend 1 lakh per annum, KPSC has spent 7.5 lakh per annum.
Civil engineering experts say that in ₹ 60 lakh, more than 250 well-facilitated toilets would have been constructed.
Here is a detailed account of money spent towards the repair and maintenance of the building toilets:
| Maintenance Work | Cost |
|---|---|
| Installation of pigeon meshes | ₹ 4 lakh |
| Ramp to aid physically challenged | ₹ 5 lakh |
| Dustbin Maintenance | ₹ 6 lakh |
| Renovation of new toilets | ₹ 35 lakh |
| Construction of grills | ₹ 19 lakh |
| Renovation of toilet corridor | ₹ 8 lakh |
| Ladder expenses | ₹ 5 lakh |
When questioned none of the office bearers could give a convincing explanation as to why ₹ 4 lakh and ₹ 5 lakh were spent on pigeon meshes and ladders.