Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (MS)

Panaji, May 23: Satya Pal Malik, has asked Raj Bhavan to cut down on the expenditure and make optimum use of the resources available. He has earlier contributed 30% of his salary for the financial year of 2020-21 towards the coronavirus pandemic.

A statement issued by Raj Bhavan in this regard said that the aim is to contain the expenditure to maximum of 80% of the allotted budget. The 20% savings would be kept as an austerity measure.

Malik said that this is meagre but valuable contribution toward combating COVID-19 and reducing the suffering experienced by people of the state.

The statement said that there will not be any new capital expenditure on the Raj Bhavan during the financial year. Even the repair and maintenance works to upkeep the assets will be minimized. The works that are ongoing will only be allowed to be completed.

The measures suggested also include cutting down on the floral arrangments for functions and other ceremonial events, in addition to reducing expenditure of office consummables by 20%. The guest invited for functions at Raj Bhavan will also be cut down by 25%. Lighting, food spread and floral decoration will also be kept minimal.

The lights of Raj Bhavan will go off earlier than usual in order to reduce the power consumption by 30%. The staff of Raj Bhavan have also pitched in with one-day salary as contributiong towards fight againt COVID-19.