Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The state caught in a debt trap of Rs 4 lakh crore has spent Rs 23 crore on furnishing bungalows of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues in the past two and a half years.

The highest amount was spent on the maintenance of CM’s bungalow during the tenure of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister. A sum of Rs 5.22 crore was spent on CM’s bungalow during the one and a half years’ tenure of Chouhan and that of one year of Mohan Yadav as CM.

PWD Minister Rakesh Singh informed the House about it in a written reply to a question raised by legislator Pratap Grewal. Besides the CM’s bungalow, a huge amount was spent on the other houses belonging to Chouhan and Yadav. A sum of Rs 80 lakh was spent on house number B-8 in 74-Bangla Area, which belongs to Chouhan.

Similarly, Rs 83 lakh was spent on Yadav’s Vindhya Kothi. As far as ministers’ bungalows are concerned, the highest amount of Rs 1.02 crore was spent on the bungalow of Prahlad Patel. Similarly, a sum of Rs 71 lakh was spent on the bungalow of minister of state Narendra Shivaji Patel. A sum of Rs 69 lakh was spent on Govind Singh Rajput’s bungalow.

A sum of Rs 80 lakh was spent on the bungalow of Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda. The government spent Rs 78 lakh on the bungalow of another Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla. On the government house, where former minister Gopal Bhargava is living, a sum of Rs 90 lakh was spent.

A sum of Rs 65 lakh was spent on the bungalow of Vishwas Sarang, Rs 58 lakh on Rakesh Singh’s bungalow, Rs 52 lakh on Lakhan Patel’s official house, Rs 40 lakh on Praduman Tomar’s bungalow, Rs 38 lakh on Inder Singh Parmar’s bungalow, Rs 58 lakh on Nagar Singh’s bungalow, Rs 36 lakh on Uday Pratap Singh’s bungalow, Rs 28 lakh on Pratima Bagri’s bungalow, and a Rs 24 lakh on Karan Singh’s bungalow.

Apart from them, lakhs of rupees were spent on the bungalows of other ministers and former ministers. According to sources, this is the amount which was spent from the coffers of PWD, but several ministers have got their bungalows furnished through the departments they are heading.