How Public Money Is Flushed Out
A guide to completely unacceptable ways to waste taxpayers’ money.
USA
On homeless people: Tax credits of about $1 billion were given to homeless people for energy efficient home improvements.
On non-existing bridges: In 2011, $1 million was spent to promote a bridge that was never built.
On dead employees: $120 million in retirement and disability benefits were paid to already dead employees.
On pancakes: $765,828 to build an International House of Pancake franchise.
Pakistan
On mangoes: Over a period of four years, $30 million were spent to just help mango farmers in Pakistan.
Indonesia
On cookery show: $100,000 was spent on a celebrity chef show in Indonesia.
Vietnam
On television sets: Last year, to conduct a research $702,558 was shelled out in Vietnam to bring television sets to 14 remote villages. Since these villages didn’t have electricity so the government also had to fund gas generators.
India
1. On bungalows and parks: ₹86 crores of public money was exhausted to renovate Mayawati's 13 Mall Avenue bungalow in Lucknow. Mayawati had also spent close to 2,500 crores on building parks and statues in the state. The election commission later spent a crore to cover up the statues ahead of the last state election in which Mayawati lost.
2. On toilets: In a recent RTI enquiry, it was found that the Planning Commission of India that estimated a poverty line figure of ₹28 per day per person shelled out ₹35 lakh to renovate two toilets in its New-Delhi headquarters. ₹5.19 was spent to issue smart cards to 60 officials who were entitled to use it.
3. On foreign travels: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia reportedly spent over ₹2 lakh per day on foreign travel between May and October 2011. Even resident Pratibha Patil's foreign trips have cost the public exchequer a record-breaking ₹205 crore since the day she assumed the office in July 2007. Till now, Patil has taken 12 foreign trips covering 22 countries across four continents. She will soon fly off to South Africa.
4. To woo voters: If you have a voter ID, politicos in Tamil Nadu will perhaps gift you everything from a piece of land, house and TV to mixer, grinder, fan, laptop and mineral water. Obviously Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi don’t pay it from their pocket.
Germany
On gold-rimmed manhole covers: Every year, 30 billion euros are wasted in Germany on gold-rimmed manhole covers, fake bridges and uniforms ordered in the wrong size.
Libya
To compensate warriors who never fought: In less than three months $1.4 billion were paid to people who participated in last year’s revolt against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. However, most of the people who were actually paid were either dead or didn’t participate in the uprising.
UK
On bottled water: BBC was recently accused of wasting £406,000 of public money a year on bottled water. However, these figures don’t include the amount the broadcaster spent on ordering bottled waters at the 103,000 events it held last year.
From the July 2012 issue of FHM India.
Spotted a mistake, or your photo used without permission? Report a correction
in your inbox