Austerity, where art thou?

The pandemic-led economic stress is a focal point of concern for the government and the second wave devastation has compounded the mess.

In these times, news of the Telangana government buying 32 luxury cars for civil servants has raised eyebrows, and rightly so.

We don’t grudge a civil servant using a Rs 30 lakh car but the timing of this announcement is not ideal.

But in this case, was there a specific request from the bureaucrats? Also, why was a certain category of car selected? These questions demand answers because these facilities are being paid by the taxpayer.

This is the time the government needs to utilise every penny of tax paid by citizens in welfare schemes.

News reports like these further give rise to public anger towards government functionaries.

Juxtaposed with the Covid-19 situation, it highlights lack of empathy and the timing and cost don’t make sense.

There is a need to create a price benchmark for decisions like this.

Telangana FM Harish Rao had said the state had suffered a revenue loss of Rs 4,100 crore due to the coronavirus-induced lockdowns and asked for Centre’s help to tide over the crisis.

Optics like these will definitely not help its cause in getting money from Centre.

This is the time to show empathy and cut down on splurge.