Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi is embroiled in controversy for not footing bills of Rs 17 lakh to Labour Department for uninterrupted supply of tea and eatables to the Chief Ministerial bungalow and Secretariat over the past three years. The Secretariat canteen of the Labour Department has supplied tea, coffee and snacks worth Rs 15 lakh to 1, Anne Marg, the official residence of the Chief Minister, and eatables worth Rs two lakh to CM’s Secretariat during the period.The matter was raked up in the Legislative Council on Thursday by BJP’s Giriraj Singh. In reply to Singh’s question, Labour Minister Upendra Prasad Verma admitted that the government had not cleared the bills.He, however, hastened to add that since the matter has come to light, he would request the Cabinet Secretariat to clear the bills at the earliest.Sources said that Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also raised objection to over-expenditure and over-consumption of eatables in the CM residence and Secretariat a year back.Verma said here today that the matter was petty and Giriraj Singh raised the issue just to belittle Laloo Yadav and Rabri Devi and to gain political mileage. ‘‘I have nothing personal against the CM or Laloo Yadav. I just wanted to draw attention on how the government is functioning,’’ Singh said.
