We should have no objections to much higher salaries for our officials but we need to object strenuously to the perquisites they enjoy. Of these the one that I think of as a criminal waste of taxpayers money is government housing. It is beyond absurd that nearly the whole of Lutyens’ Delhi is occupied by officials, ministers and MPs. Land in this area sells for more than Rs 100 crores an acre and a large ministerial bungalow usually sits on between three and five acres. You do the math. This is land which if commercially exploited could pay for the citizens of Delhi to get better roads, parks, schools, hospitals and all the other amenities they seriously lack.

The only other city I know as well as Delhi is Mumbai and here the situation is worse. On Nariman Point, where a small apartment recently sold for nearly Rs 40 crore, government houses sprawl across an entire street. Does this make sense? Can we afford these perks any more?

In bad old socialist times, when we thought of the Soviet Union and Maoist China as shining beacons to follow, we kept salaries low and made up by housing our officials in splendour. We also provided them with things ordinary Indians could not easily obtain. Telephones and gas connections were much sought after luxuries in socialist times so we not only made sure officials had them but that they had a quota they could distribute to friends and family. These powers of patronage have mercifully been curtailed but there is no attempt at getting our officials and elected representatives to understand that housing is a perk that is not handed out in democratic, free countries.

... contd.