17th Lok Sabha saved Rs 801 crore of its budget allocation: Official

New Delhi: Initiatives such as the use of e-vehicles and a paperless office led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla saved Rs 801.46 crore in the four years of the 17th Lok Sabha, a Parliament official said on Tuesday.

The savings amounted to almost a quarter of the budgetary provisions made over four years since the 17th Lok Sabha was constituted in May 2019, the official said.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat saved Rs 258.47 crore in the financial year 2021-22, and Rs 132.60 crores in 2022-23, the official said.

The 12th Lok Sabha, which had a 13-month tenure, had managed to save Rs 7.01 crore of the total budgetary allocation. The 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004) saved 99.52 crore of its allocation over a five year period.

The savings in the 14th Lok Sabha were 145.07 crore. They were Rs 94.17 crore in 15th Lok Sabha and Rs 461 crore in 16th Lok Sabha.

A reason for the record savings during the 17th Lok Sabha could be the curtailed sittings of Parliament on account of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the austerity measures rolled out by Birla.

During the past four years, several initiatives have been taken such as making the office paperless and introduction of e-vehicles which resulted in huge savings in fuel costs.