'Kia Carnival': Opposition slams KCR for gifting expensive SUVs to additional collectors

On Sunday, additional collectors of the 33 districts in Telangana state, who attended Chief Minister's review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan, were in for a pleasant surprise.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister gifted brand new Kia SUVs to each of them. Official sources said each SUV costs over Rs 30 lakh. Nearly Rs 11 crore was spent to purchase 33 SUVs. The transport department purchased the SUVs on the direction of the Chief Minister.

"When Telangana is reeling under severe financial crisis with no money to buy TSRTC Buses, Telangana Chief Minister has the audacity to buy 32 Kia luxury cars for additional collectors. This is a misuse of public money," said Sravan Dasoju, Congress national spokesman.

Bharatiya Janata Party asked how can CM KCR justify spending of over Rs 11 crores to buy 32 ultra-luxury vehicles for additional collectors in Telangana?

"KCR is wasting public money in the middle of a dangerous pandemic, while many poor people are dying because they have no money for hospitalization. This decision to buy ultra-luxury vehicles for additional collectors is horrendous given the public health crisis," said K.Krishna Saagar Rao, Chief spokesperson, Telangana state BJP.

He said finance minister Harish Rao has made statements recently that the state has lost massive revenue due to COVID 19 lockdowns and wanted increased FRBM limits to raise more loans. "BJP questions the finance minister's bare minimum fiscal discipline in the current economic situation, as his department is releasing crores for ultra-luxury vehicles. How can a state finances be splurged like this?" he asked.

BJP said this money could have been used to augment hospital beds and provide free treatment to the poor. BJP has demanded immediate rollback of this decision.

On Sunday, while the meeting was on at Pragathi Bhavan, the fleet of 33 SUVs arrived in a convoy at the venue. The Chief Minister took a small break to have a look at the new arrivals. He asked the officials to hand over the cars to additional collectors after the meeting. Later, transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar formally handed them over to additional collectors.

The government had earlier provided Toyota Fortuners to district collectors and joint collectors in 2015 at a cost of Rs 5.25 crore. At that time, the state had just 10 districts, which have been now reorganized to 33 districts. High-end cars were provided to collectors of new districts later.