Prez, PM, Parliament spend Rs 14 crore on electricity

The hallowed portals of power -- the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament and the Prime Minister's official residence have together spent about Rs 14 crore (Rs 140 million) for electricity last year, an RTI reply has revealed.

The Parliament incurred an electricity bill of Rs 6.25 crore (Rs 62.5 million) during 2008. The bill of Rashtrapati Bhavan was Rs 6.70 crore (Rs 67 million), followed by Rs 50.35 lakh (Rs 5.03 million) spent by the prime minister's residence from January-December 2008, it said.

Surprisingly, the electricity bills for Rashtrapati Bhavan and the prime minister's office for the same period was the highest in the last three years.

"It is comparatively half of what has been the cumulative bills of the last three years," said Chetan Kothari, a Mumbai based RTI applicant.

He had sought information regarding the units of electricity consumed and the amount of money spent towards electricity bills for the past four years and the provision available for any emergency power cut.

As per the reply, the annual electricity bill of the prime minister's residence for 2005 was Rs 7.48 lakh (Rs 748,000), followed by Rs 15.16 lakh (Rs 1.52 million) in 2006 and Rs 12.39 lakh (Rs 1.24 million) in 2007.

The electricity bill of the Rahtrapati Bhavan in 2005 stood at Rs 3.20 crore (Rs 32 million) followed by an amount of Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million) in 2006 and Rs 4.34 crore in 2007 (Rs 43.4 million) until gradually rising to Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) in 2008.

As per the reply, there is no separate meter for the office and residence of the prime minister.

The Bill related to the Rashtrapati Bhavan also includes that of President's estate.

The Parliament's bill comprises of Parliament house, the library building and the annexe bill.