Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla kicked off the two-day event at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai, attended by roughly 600 guests from all over the country. The state Congress alleged that the meals served to the guests were valued at ₹5,000 each, using silver dinner plates that were rented for ₹550 each, according to India Today.
Maharashtra Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar expressed to reporters, “With the state nearly facing bankruptcy, what justified the extravagant meals served on silver plates to the Estimates Committee members in Mumbai?”
He pointed out that while ₹5,000 was spent on each guest’s meal, farmers were being denied loan waivers, and budgets for various welfare schemes were being cut.
Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal also criticized the state government. “The members of the Estimates Committee dined on meals costing ₹5,000 served on silver plates worth ₹550 each. Could there be a connection between the funds used and the cash discovered in the Dhule government guest house during the Estimates Committee’s tour?” he questioned, as reported.
Social activist Kumbhar stated that the total expenditure on guests reached ₹27 lakh. “Opulent waste of public funds! Mumbai’s Vidhan Bhavan hosted an extravagant feast for Budget Committee members from throughout India, costing ₹4,500 per person. Served on silver-coated plates (₹550 each), the total meal cost for 600 guests hit ₹27 lakh! This very committee that advocates austerity partook in such a wasteful display, leading to public outrage,” he posted on X.
Sources quoted in reports mentioned that the guests were served on plates with a silver coating rather than actual silver plates as claimed by the Opposition. They also noted that the cost of each meal was less than ₹4,000.
