How MPs waste Rs 20,000 in 60 sec

OKAY, 'FINE': Rahul Bajaj wants to end unnecessary squabbles in Parliament.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: While the Ottavio Quattrocchi detention and deportation issues continue to create ripples in the diplomatic circles, the impact is also being felt by the Indian taxpayers.

As Parliament continues to face multiple adjournments on the Q-issue, it’s the common man’s money that goes down the drain.

Parliament disruptions cost the taxpayers Rs 20,000 a minute.

This has now upset industrialist-politician Rahul Bajaj so much so that he, in a bid to end unnecessary squabbles, has proposed a fine for the erring politicos.

Bajaj has written to the Rajya Sabha Chairman seeking exemplary monetary punishment for the ones who initiate and instigate adjournments.

“To run Rajya Sabha, it costs the government Rs 100 crore per year. The average no.of days that Rajya Sabha sits is 85, so it’s Rs one crore a day,” says Bajaj.

Adjournments aside, the Parliamentarians have taken the definition of vacation to another level. So while the entire country gets back to work on on Monday after the Holi weekend and festivities, MPs want one more day off.

“Parliament should be off for another day as all MPs go to their constituencies and meet people,” says BJP MP, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Agrees Congress MP, Rajiv Shukla, “Most MPs go to their constituencies and it’s very difficult to wind up the Holi functions in one day. So they require the next day too to cover their constituencies.”

In the recent past, Opposition NDA has hit out at the UPA over rising prices, often bringing the two houses of Parliament to a standstill to get their message across.

But it’s perhaps time for politicians to realise that this means a lot of money down the drain.