Telangana buys 32 luxury Kia Carnival cars for civil servants amid Covid financial crisis

At a time when the state government is facing a financial crisis due to falling revenue and rising covid-related expenses, K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana government has bought 32 luxury cars for state civil servants.

Telangana government said the Kia Carnival car, each costing Rs 30-31 lakh, are meant for use by the Additional Collectors for their visits to villages.

With the state reeling under heavy debt, the government's decision has drawn heavy criticism from the opposition.



Lashing out at the state government, Congress national spokesperson Sravan Kumar Dasoju said: "At a time when Telangana is reeling under severe financial crisis with no money for Covid medical infrastructure and to buy TSRTC buses, Telangana CM has the audacity to buy 32 Kia luxury cars."

He called it a misuse of public money with irresponsibility at a time when people are dying due to insufficient medical infrastructure.

BJP has also called the move "criminal splurge" by Chief Minister Rao to "appease bureaucrats" in the state.

"How can Chief Minister Rao justify spending over 11 crores to buy 32 ultra-luxury vehicles?" party spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao asked.

State Finance Minister Harish Rao had recently said that Telangana had suffered a massive revenue loss of up to Rs 4,100 crore due to the COVID-19 lockdown in May and had asked the Centre to increase the FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limit to 5 per cent from the present 4 per cent, to help it tide over the financial crisis.

Telangana still has 22,133 active COVID-19 cases and as many as 3,469 deaths have been reported in the state so far.

(Inputs from IANS & ANI)