Maharashtra to buy six luxury cars at ₹1.37 crore amid shortage of funds

While Maharashtra has been facing a shortage of funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government is set to spend ₹1.37 crore to buy six luxury cars for ministers, their deputies and senior officers of the sports and education departments, NDTV reported.

According to the report, both Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the finance department had granted approval for the purchase of the cars, each of which cost ₹22.8 lakh. The state unit of the BJP has come out against the move.

“This Maharashtra government hasn’t supported their people. They haven’t protected the police, who are frontline warriors and they can’t pay the salaries of their employees. But they have money to buy luxury cars for their ministers,” NDTV quoted BJP MLA Ram Kadam as saying.

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The government’s move to buy six luxury cars has come days after State Minister of Social Welfare Vijay Wadettiwar said the Centre had not granted any funds to the state, which would have to borrow a loan to pay the salaries of government employees.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra stands at 1,92,990, of which 79,911 are active. As many as 1,04,687 people in the state have been cured or discharged from hospitals. The state has also witnessed 8,376 fatalities, so far.