Parliament committee should pay attn to canteen subsidies: naidu

The government today said, parliamentary committees involved with granting whopping subsidies given to Parliament canteens serving MPs, should pay attention to the matter, and insisted that

it alone was not responsible for a decision. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said a debate is “good” and some constructive solution will come out of it. > A debate is 

always good. Let there be a debate. Some constructive > solution will come out of it. As a minister, I do not take decision > on this alone. Parliament has a different system. Lok 

Sabha and > Rajya Sabha have their house committees and their members should pay > attention to the matter.  > – M VENKAIAH NAIDU, PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS MINISTER Naidu parried

queries over whether his government would discontinue with the subsidy, and said it has been going on for long and was not something decided by the BJP government. The Congress has backed a

review of the huge subsidy being given to the canteens, and said a “course correction” is needed on the matter. > If you look at on the scale of subsidy being provided, I think there >

 needs to be some course correction.  > – TOM VADAKKAN, CONGRESS SPOKESPERSON Vadakkan also noted that subsidised canteens function in different ministries. A RTI reply revealed that

Parliament canteens got a total subsidy of Rs 60.7 crore during last five years with meals like ‘puri sabji’ being sold at 88 per cent subsidised rates. The item list received under the

Right to Information Act revealed that Parliamentarians, earning over Rs 1.4 lakh with perks, have been relishing ‘fish fried with chips’ at Rs 25, mutton cutlet at Rs 18, boiled vegetables

at Rs 5, mutton curry with bone at Rs 20 and masala dosa at Rs 6 with rates subsidised by 63 per cent, 65 per cent, 83 per cent, 67 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. _(With Inputs from

PTI)_ Published: 24 Jun 2015, 2:08 PM IST