3 min readRajkotSep 12, 2024 09:22 AM IST
First published on: Sep 12, 2024 at 08:08 AM IST
The Rajkot Municipal Corporation reportedly spent over Rs 75 lakh — with expenditure on food packets and free bus rides — to gather the crowd for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Rajkot on February 26 this year for the inauguration of AIIMS.
The RMC standing committee during its meeting on Wednesday gave its seal of approval to Rs 75.35 lakh spent by the civic body’s cultural development department for making arrangements for the PM’s “roadshow” on Race Course Ring Road in the city. The expenditure included Rs 36,85,200 paid to Akash Caterers for purchasing 30,710 food packets; 15 lakh paid to Ashutosh Travels, Shree VM Tanti Foundation and Divine Tours for hiring 658 buses to ferry people to and fro, and Rs 19.95 lakh paid to G-Kids for customised T-shirts for the event.
According to the proposal green flagged by the standing committee, Akash Caterers charged Rs120 per food packet while G-Kids supplied T-shirts at Rs199.50 a piece. The RMC paid Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,500 for hiring each of the 117 midi buses and 141 standard buses from private entities. The RMC also paid Rs 1.15 lakh to one Tushar Pota for four cultural performances and Rs 24,000 to Teja Makwana for 20 Ravanhattha players who performed at the event. The civic body also paid Rs 15000 to Royal Handicraft for a memento which was presented to the PM. The committee also approved Rs2 lakh contingency expenditure.
Interestingly, the standing committee also approved Rs13.87 lakh payment made by the cultural development department to four caterers — Shradhha Caterers, Jaydip Caterers, Nemiraj Caterers and Sadguru Enterprise — for serving meals to 7,550 peoples at four events organised as part of Nari Shakti Vandana on March 6 this year in virtual attendance of PM Modi. The four caterers charged the RMC Rs 183.75 per meal.
RMC standing committee chairman Jaimin Thakar said the Rs 120 charged per food packet was reasonable. “We had brought people to the Race Course at 3 pm that day. We didn’t know when the event would end, so we had arranged food packets.”
“We had assigned the job to Akash Caterers. The food packets had six items, including a sweetmeat, a cold drink and a mineral water bottle and were packed in boxes with a carry bag. So, the packets costed Rs120 a piece. Normally, the caterers serve the meal to participants at the event venue itself,” Thakar told The Indian Express.
In all, the standing committee approved Rs 26.82 lakh expenditure for Nari Shakti Vandana events and Rs19.56 lakh for Tiranga Yatra which was flagged by Union Health Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
The Tiranga Yatra expenditure included Rs 6.44 lakh being paid to a private firm for purchasing 21,000 caps, Rs 11.95 lakh to Ashutosh Travels for hiring 207 buses to ferry people to and fro, Rs 37,500 to Aradhan Tea for supplying snacks.
RMC standing committee chairman Jaimin Thakar said the Rs 120 charged per food packet was reasonable. (Screengrab: Youtube/BJP) 
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