On August 14, a life-size cutout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was erected at the Secunderabad Railway station. Its sole purpose was for passengers to take selfies with the PM’s poster, labelled as ‘3D PM Selfie Booth’.
On Tuesday, December 26, the Opposition questioned the Centre’s latest initiative of installing selfie booths at several railway stations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cutout.
An article published by The Hindu states that the Central government is spending a staggering Rs 1.65 crore on the selfie booths across the railway stations.
The report is based on a reply to an RTI (Right to Information) application filed by a retired railway official Ajay Bose.
In response to the query, Central Railway deputy general manager Abhay Mishra informed that two types of 3D Modi selfie booths – permanent selfie booths and temporary selfie booths – are being installed across 50 railway stations in five divisions – Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Solapur and Bhusaval.
While 30 Category A stations, including Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalyan, Nagpur, and Betul will have temporary Modi selfie booths, 20 Category C railway stations such as Karjat, Kasara, Latur, Kopargaon will have permanent booths.
While Rs 1.25 lakh is being spent on each temporary selfie booth, a permanent one costs Rs 1.65 lakh. The cumulative expenditure stands at Rs 1.65 crore, the RTI reply informed.
Some stations to have 3 booths
The Northern Railways informed it plans to set up more than one selfie booth, with some stations getting three. Dehradun, Ambala, New Delhi, Amritsar, Ayodhya, and Chandigarh have reportedly three booth installations in each station, the RTI reply stated.
The Western Railways informed that the selfie booths have been installed in five railway stations. “As of December 4, selfie points have been installed at five stations – Veraval, Bhavnagar Terminus, Botad, Dhandhuka and Gandhigram of the Western Railway Bhavnagar division,” the reply stated.
The Southern Railways, in its RTI response, informed that 11 stations, including Tiruchchirappalli Junction, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur Junction and Vellore Cantonment, considered as major stations, will have the selfie booths.
Names of agencies not mentioned
Bose, who filed the RTI query told The Hindu that the RTI reply failed to mention the names of the agencies involved in making the selfie booths.
“While the chief public relations officer of Northern Railways said that contract work has been allotted equally among eight empanelled agencies with it, officials have refused to divulge the name of the agencies or the total expenditure,” Bose was quoted by The Hindu.
Passengers take ‘selfies’
Meanwhile, many images and videos are gaining traction on social media platforms like X where irate passengers are tagging the Indian Railways, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlighting their travel experience in cramped spaces despite possessing reserved tickets.
One such passenger Abhas Kumar Shrivastava shared his experience of having to travel the entire journey by standing even after getting a booking a reserved ticket.
Tagging IRCTC, minister Vaishnaw and IRCTC helpline, he wrote on X “Reserved a seat 4 days prior and got a confirmed ticket. It was only after somehow entering the train I realised I couldn’t even reach my seat number 64. After an hour when I reached my seat, I found a pregnant lady sitting on it, so just left and stood at the gate for two hours. Thank you for so memorable journey and a confirmed ticket to let me stand for the entire trip.”
Many passengers are sharing various images and videos.
Clear waste of taxpayer’s money: Opposition
Reacting strongly to the exaggerated expenditure being invested on the PM Selfie Booths, Opposition leaders called it a ‘pre-election stunt’ and a ‘waste of taxpayers’ money’.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi wrote on X, “Modi government is installing such “selfie booths” at many railway stations. The price of one effigy ranges from ₹ 1.25 lakh to ₹ 6.25 lakh. There is not enough money in the coffers of the Government of India to fulfill all the wishes of King Narendra Bhai. But what is the poor of the country compared to selfies? All the wealth of the country is a pawn for Modi ji. Enjoy!”
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote on X, “Not a single day goes without someone sharing their ghastly experience while travelling in trains. People are paying more for services even though services are going down the drain… spending crores over selfie points than better facilities. Shame on Central Railway.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharghe wrote, “Absolutely brazen waste of taxpayer’s money by installing Modiji’s 3D selfie points at railway stations. Modi government has not provided drought and flood relief to States. MGNREGA funds for Opposition-ruled States are also pending, but it has the audacity to generously splurge public money on these cheap election stunts.”
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor wrote, “The shameless self promotion of the PM and the ruling party at the expense of the honest taxpayer is such a blatant misuse of government resources that, in any other democracy, would be condemned and lead to a taxpayer revolt. In India, we are unfortunately inured to indulging the capricious whims and fancies of our rulers.”
