How much are our ministers worth? -Governance Now

How much are our ministers worth?

The PMO has made public the assets of 77 union ministers, Jairam apparently has Rs 29 in the bank

GN Bureau | September 10, 2010

In what can be termed as one of the most interesting revelations to have been made using the Right to Information Act, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has declared a bank account with just Rs 29.

The prime minister office has for the first time made public the assets of the council of ministers.

Delhi based social activist Subhash Chanda Agrawal filed an RTI application with the PMO seeking the assets of the council of ministers in the present government.

Initially, the PMO had responded to the RTI query by saying that it would take the permission of the Lok Sabha speaker before making public the information.

On Thursday, Agrawal received the 418 pages reply containing details filed by Members of Parliament.

According the information, civil aviation minister Praful Patel is the richest non- Congress minister in UPA-2. According the information provided by the Prime Minister’s Office as reply to an RTI query, Patel and his wife have loans worth Rs 31 crore against their names.

Minister of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia and transport and highways minister Kamal Nath have assets to the tune of Rs 20 crore.

Union home minister P Chidambaram owns a mobile phone worth Rs 38, 000, a coffee estate and a cycle worth Rs 1500.

Telecom minister A Raja and his wife have declared a joint annual income of 12 lakh. Raja’s inherited assets include property worth Rs 67 lakh.

Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has assets worth Rs 24 crore including farmlands in Haryana and Bangalore and two cars.

The not- so- rich includes railways minister Mamata Banerjee with assets worth Rs 7 lakh and defence minister A K Antony with Rs 1,17,000 as bank balance minus any immovable property and car.

Commerce minister Anand Sharma, has declared personal wealth worth only Rs 26,741, while food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahai’s assets amount to Rs 1.4 lakh.

Here is a list of some other ministers and their declared assets:

S Jaipal Reddy, Urban Development Minister- Rs 3.3 lakh, and

Mukul Wasnik, Social Justice Minister- Rs 3.3 lakh.

Farooq Abdullah, Renewable Energy Minister- Rs 6.5 lakh.

Sharad Pawar, Rs 3.9 crore in assets

M K Alagiri, Chemicals Minister- Rs 9 crores.

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