Health ministry spent Rs 94 lakh on snacks in two years

The Union health ministry has spent over Rs94 lakh on snacks and bottled water during last two years, nearly eight times more than the expenses of Prime Minister's Office under the same heads.

The PMO has spent about Rs11.77 lakh on refreshment during the 2008-09 and 2009-10, reveals an RTI reply.

Exercising his Right to Information, Hissar-based RTI activist Ramesh Verma had sought to know from different ministries the expenditure incurred on snacks and bottled water during 2008-09 and 2009-10.

The Health Ministry, in its reply, said it had spent Rs49.45 lakh and Rs44.62 lakh respectively in the "last two years on refreshment/mineral water", which adds to Rs94.07 lakh.

The rural development ministry spent nearly Rs41.42 lakh during the period on snacks served during meetings, the reply from the ministry said.

The Water resources ministry has said that nearly Rs20.73 lakh were spent on these heads during the period, while Ministry of Petroleum incurred expenses of Rs19.5 lakh.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution spent nearly Rs35,000 on packaged drinking water during the period, while nearly Rs14 lakh were spent on refreshments during the last two years.