Chandigarh, May 22 -- An RTI query has revealed that the Chandigarh administration has spent Rs. 46.59 lakh in staff salaries for the Group Home in Sector 31 during 2024-25-despite the facility still being non-operational. The disclosure has sparked concerns among parents and caregivers of persons with mental illness, intellectual disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder, for whom the home was built as a long-term residential care facility.

Filed by 78-year-old BK Chadha, a parent of a boy with mental illness, the RTI reply from the social welfare department stated that 18 staff members-including one manager, nine security guards, six safai karamcharis and two malis-were deployed at the facility on July 15, 2024. Hired through a manpow...