The Cockroach Janta Party has challenged the Centre over a sharp increase in spending on Union ministers’ official residences in Delhi, arguing that public money should instead be directed towards improving government schools.
The intervention follows disclosure that expenditure on repairs, renovation and furnishing of ministers’ residences reached ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26, the highest figure in a 12-year set of expenditure data. The comparable bill was ₹27.47 crore in 2014-15.
CJP, which has made conditions in government schools a central part of its widening public campaign, responded by telling the government to stop spending heavily on ministers’ homes and address deficiencies in school infrastructure. The group said ₹92 crore could finance 10 “world-class” government schools, presenting the comparison as evidence that the problem was one of spending priorities rather than lack of resources.
The ₹10-school calculation is a CJP assertion and does not represent a standard government estimate for building and equipping a school. Construction costs vary substantially according to location, land availability, capacity, facilities and specifications.
Expenditure on ministerial residences totalled ₹547.68 crore between 2014-15 and 2025-26. Annual spending was ₹27.47 crore in 2014-15 and remained broadly around the ₹20-crore to ₹30-crore range for much of the first half of the period. It rose to ₹53.87 crore in 2020-21, touched ₹73.86 crore in 2022-23, fell to ₹54.52 crore in 2023-24 and climbed to ₹71.98 crore in 2024-25 before reaching ₹92.35 crore in 2025-26.
The Central Public Works Department handles repair, renovation and maintenance of the residences. Many properties in the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone are between 80 and 100 years old, creating recurring problems including water seepage, termite damage, ageing electrical installations and plumbing failures. Routine requirements also include replacing lights, fans, flooring and other fittings. Rising construction and material costs have added to expenditure.
The ₹92.35-crore figure therefore covers more than cosmetic refurbishment, although the scale of the increase has given CJP another opening to question government priorities. With roughly 70 to 72 Cabinet ministers and ministers of state forming the Union Council of Ministers over the period, the 2025-26 expenditure works out at an average of about ₹1.2 crore per minister. Actual spending varies significantly between individual properties.
The disclosed numbers do not include expenditure on residences occupied by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members who are not ministers. They also exclude spending on offices used by Union ministers and ministers of state, limiting direct comparisons with the Centre’s broader accommodation bill.
CJP’s criticism fits its expanding “School Thik Karo” campaign, through which founder Abhijeet Dipke and supporters have highlighted dilapidated classrooms, inadequate sanitation, unsafe buildings and other shortcomings. Dipke has also urged ministers, education officials, principals and teachers to enrol their own children in government schools, contending that greater personal reliance on the public system would strengthen accountability.
The campaign has gained visibility beyond social media. CJP began as an online satirical movement before organising demonstrations over examination irregularities and education policy. Its supporters gathered at Jantar Mantar in June, demanding accountability over alleged failures involving examinations and recruitment tests.
Government school infrastructure, meanwhile, remains a vast expenditure challenge. The country had more than 1.01 million government schools and about 121.6 million pupils enrolled in them during 2024-25. Government-run institutions accounted for about 69 per cent of all schools and nearly half of total enrolment.
The Centre has increased the Department of School Education and Literacy allocation to ₹83,562 crore for 2026-27, its highest level, with higher funding for Samagra Shiksha, PM POSHAN and PM SHRI. Samagra Shiksha specifically includes improvement of infrastructure in government schools among its objectives.
