Parliament disruptions cost nation Rs 18 cr

TAX PAYERS WOES: This session, the Lok Sabha lost 42 hours and the Rajya Sabha 41.

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New Delhi: Disruptions, disruptions and adjournments. That was the story of this monsoon session overshadowed by the furore over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

And three days before the session was scheduled to be over, an emotional Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee blamed the members for their continuous unruly behaviour.

”I am disturbed, I’m unhappy, sorry and concerned,” said Chaterjee.

And given the volatile political scenario this could well be the last or one of the last sessions of the 14th Lok Sabha.

The nuclear deal issue is proving to be politically irreconcilable. Even the MPs are aware that they have been guilty of an enormous amount of wastage of taxpayers' money.

There have been six disruptions in the Lok Sabha and 54 in the Rajya Sabha.

Take a look at the figures to understand the sheer volume of expense to be borne by the national exchequer. This is how the Parliament expenses are calculated

“Per minute Rs 34,500 are spent,” said MoS for Parliamentary Affairs, Suresh Pachauri.

And per hour it means a loss of Rs 20. 7 lakh. If you translate that into loss per day it comes to Rs 1.55 crore.

This session, the Lok Sabha lost 42 hours, the Rajya Sabha 41. And given the high cost of loss per hour that meant the expenditure incurred by the government for these scenes of pandemonium totaled to Rs 18 crore.

They say battles put a heavy burden on the exchequer. But while this lack of coordination between he government and the Opposition may not be a battle, it’s literally draining the exchequer of lakhs and crores.