Austerity drive? UPA spends Rs 21 lakh on annual party

NEW DELHI: When it’s time to party, the UPA government does not believe in cutting corners. Information accessed by ET under Right to Information Act has revealed that the Congressled UPA government celebrated its fourth anniversary in style, spending a lavish Rs6,871 per head in hosting 300 guests at the prime minister’s residence in May this year.

Like every year since 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had thrown a dinner party on May 22 at his 7 Race Course Road residence.

Information provided by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to this correspondent under RTI Act shows that Singh had invited 522 guests for the annual event.

These included Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha UPA MPs, members of Congress Working Committee, political leaders and mediapersons. However, 300 guests attended the lavish dinner.

At a time when the government and its finance minister were talking about austerity measures and how the global economic slowdown had affected India’s growth story, the party cost the exchequer Rs20,61,359. This included tentage charges of Rs11,15,819, catering charges of Rs6,30,874, electricity charges of Rs3,03,770 and flower arrangement charges of Rs10,896.

The per head cost for hosting the event, at which the PM and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi released the annual report card, worked to around Rs6,871.20.

The menu was a generous spread which included fresh juices, chaat and elaborate dishes like murg handi lazeez, kasturi murg tikka, rogani gosht, macchli Amritsari, gosht pudina biryani and five kinds of dessert. The information was provided by Government Hospitality Organisation at Prime Minister’s residence.

What is interesting is that even eight months after hosting the event, the government has said that tentage and catering bills are still “under process”, which would mean that the bills are still pending with the government.

In comparison, a premium South Delhi luxury hotel told ET it would charge Rs4,725 per head, inclusive of taxes and flower arrangement, for an event of this magnitude.

Sushil Wadhwa of Platinum World, an event management company which plans opulent weddings, worked out the cost for a similar 300-guest event anywhere between Rs5,000 per head to Rs8,000 per head, depending on the meal served with alcohol requirement.