Indian Railway Spends Rs 6.25 Lakh On Each Selfie Booth Of PM Modi Across 50 Stations: RTI
The Centre has paid up to Rs 6.25 lakh on each permanent 3D selfie booth featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picture in railway stations. A temporary selfie booth costs Rs 1.25 lakh per unit, Central Railway responded to a Right to Information (RTI) application.
Central Railway deputy general manager Abhay Mishra responded to a request for information made under the RTI by retired railway officer Ajay Bose by stating that the railway had set up or built Modi's 3D selfie booths in 50 train stations spread over five divisions: Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Pune, and Solapur.
Twenty Category C stations, such as Karjat, Kasara, Latur, and Kopargaon, have permanent installations, whilst thirty Category A stations, such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalyan, Nagpur, and Betul, will have temporary installations.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's Central Bureau of Communication has authorized L1 rates for 3D selfie/photo booths at Rs 1.25 lakh for each category A station's temporary installation and Rs 6.25 lakh for each category C station's permanent installation, according to the RTI reply. The RTI reply indicates that taxes are not included in this rate.
This brings the entire amount spent on temporary and permanent photo booths at Central Railway to Rs 1.62 crore. Of this, Rs 1.25 crore to Rs 37.5 lakh would go into installing permanent picture booths.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X, "Absolutely brazen waste of taxpayers money by installing Modi ji’s 3D selfie points at Railway Stations. Earlier, the blood and sacrifice of our brave soldiers was politically used by ordering the Armed Forces to install 822 such Selfie-points with a prominent cut-out of Modi ji."
He added that the Modi Govt hasn’t provided drought and flood relief to states. MGNREGA funds for opposition-ruled states are also pending. But it dares to splurge public money on these cheap election stunts generously.
In response to an additional RTI request, Northern Railway stated that the PM's selfie photo booths will be set up at 100 locations around train stations, with multiple booths at some stops. For example, every station in Dehradun, Ambala, New Delhi, Amritsar, Ayodhya, and Chandigarh has three booth installations.
