Letters: Toilet tamasha

In all the reports and jokes on the renovation of toilets in Yojana Bhavan, one important point is missed. Even the North and the South Blocks that house the offices of the prime minister and Cabinet ministers do not have luxurious toilets. We have seen in the Commonwealth Games scandal how equipment and supplies were priced unconscionably high for obvious reasons. One unique characteristic of the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is the audit against propriety. He can raise the question whether the expenditure was justified in the first instance, even if the sanction was obtained, and whether there were less expensive options. There are high-tech toilets in five-star hotels in developed countries. I have a suspicion that the Planning Commission might have installed such a suite of toilets as part of its plan to modernise the infrastructure of the country where millions of people have access only to open-air lavatories. The chairman of the Planning Commission should say whether he approves of the expenditure.

A Seshan Mumbai

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