Scramble for GES funds on
Departments fight with each other to put up lavish show
The state finance department has been keeping tabs on the spending for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which has been very lavish.
The funds sanctioned for the event are evaporating fast, as departments vie with each other to put on a good show. This disregard for conserving public money is worrying finance department functionaries. For example, the industries department proposes to gift two Pochampally silk saris and a diamond necklace to Ivanka Trump and a pair of handloom clothes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Handloom clothes will also be presented to all delegates and volunteers — Pochampally sarees for women and kurta-pajamas for men.
Around 500 women volunteers have been roped in and all will get a Pochampally saree. They have been asked to wear the locally made saree during the summit as the industries department feels this will give it international recognition. Costly gifts items and mementoes depicting the Charminar, THub, and Golconda Fort will be presented to all the invitees.
Similarly, `500 crore have been sanctioned to spruce up the city.
It has been confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR).
As per the tentative schedule received from the PMO, Mr Modi will land at Begumpet airport at 2.30 pm on November 28. He will reach Miyapur by helicopter and inaugurate the HMR at 3 pm. The inaugural programme will be about half-anhour long.
After that, Mr Modi will travel to the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue of the GES, by helicopter. He will arrive at the summit at 4 pm. He will then leave for Falaknuma Palace, by road, at 7.45 pm and reach there by 8.45 pm to host a dinner which will be attended by Ms Ivanka Trump and other dignitaries participating in the summit. He will leave Falaknuma Palace by 9.30 pm to return to Delhi.
Mr Singh instructed officials to make foolproof arrangements at Begumpet Airport, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Miyapur Metro Rail station, the HICC, Falaknuma Palace and Golconda Fort. He said that the state government would host a dinner for the GES delegates at Golconda fort on November 29, and asked officials to make arrangements for the event.