$63,000 Toilets Raise Public Ire In India

India’s Planning Commission, a government entity responsible for plotting the country’s economic future, came under fire from opposition leaders and the public on Wednesday, after reports emerged that they had spent over 3.5 million rupees ($63, 146) to renovate two toilets in its office, which are believed to be reserved for just 60 “very high dignitaries”.

India’s Planning Commission, a government entity responsible for plotting the country’s economic future, came under fire from opposition leaders and the public on Wednesday, after reports emerged that they had spent over 3.5 million rupees ($63, 146) to renovate two toilets in its office, which are believed to be reserved for just 60 “very high dignitaries”.

According to NDTV, the toilets had come equipped with access cards and closed-circuit surveillance cameras in nearby corridors, in order to prevent damage or theft to the fixtures.

“Farmers are committing suicides due to debts here. Such wasteful expenditure should stop,” said Shahnawaz Hussain, spokesman for main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

[quote]”The Planning Commission says those earning above 32 rupees per day are rich. And it has gone ahead and spent 35 lakh (3.5 million rupees) on two toilets. The Prime Minister heads the Planning Commission which is today filled with people who have only read about poverty in textbooks,” he added, as cited by the Hindustan Times.[/quote]

The Planning Commission though defended the renovations and insisted that the toilets toilets were not for private use. Moreover, the money, the Planning Commission claims, was spent not on just two toilets but a block, which can be used by ten people at a time.

“It is unfortunate that what is routine maintenance and upgradation is being projected as wasteful expenditure,” the Planning Commission said in a press release.

Nonetheless, the Planning Commission’s statements are unlikely to appease the Indian public, who have already expressed outrage towards the commission for declaring that Indians earning more than 44 cents per day were not “absolutely poor”.

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“Even, for the sake of argument, if we were to go through the Planning Commission’s one-and-a-half page press release, not all my questions are answered,” wrote a blogger on NDTV. “Why plan on a smart card access system for an office that already has restricted access? It’s not that anyone can walk into Yojana Bhawan (the Planning Commission’s office) in the first place.”

[quote]“From today onwards #Planning comm can be renamed as ‘Potty commission’” wrote @Ahmedshabbir20 on twitter.[/quote]