Mumbai: The ministers of the Union Government have spent a lot on their domestic and International trips. This information was sought by activist Anil Galgali under the Right to Information Act, which revealed the ministers spent Rs 392.58 crore on their numerous trips. This information was provided by the Cabinet Affairs Pay & Accounts department. The major chunk of this expense has been incurred on international trips which cost the exchequer Rs 292 crore and the remaining Rs 110 crore were expenses for domestic trips.
RTI Activist Anil Galgali , who has been keeping a track on the Narendra Modi-led government through various RTI queries, has tried to highlighted the unfulfilled promises and unnecessary expenditure. He pursued with the Prime Minister’s Office requesting to provide the total expenditure incurred on Foreign Travel Expenses (FTE) and Domestic Travel Expenses (DTE) by the PM and his council of ministers since May, 2014. According the RTI reply, cabinet ministers and the prime minister spent Rs 311 crore, while ministers of state spent Rs 82 crore on their foreign and domestic visits.
Citing e-lekha reports, Satish Goyal, senior accounts officer of Pay & Account Office of the Cabinet Affairs, stated, the cumulative expenditure incurred on FTE and DTE by Modi and his council of ministers from financial year 2014-15 to 2018-19 was Rs 393.58 crore. The information given shows the expenditure of the cabinet ministers including Modi. The cabinet ministers including Modi spent Rs 311 crore, while state ministers spent Rs 82 crore on their foreign and domestic visits. Most of the expenditure in the year 2014-15, when Rs 88 crore was spent on foreign travels by the PM and his cabinet colleagues.
In 2014- 15 cabinet ministers spent Rs 98.48 crore while state ministers spent Rs 11.28 crore. In 2015- 2016 cabinet ministers spent Rs 84.99 crore while state minister spent Rs 13.17 crore. In 2016- 2017 cabinet minsters spent Rs 45.51 crore while state ministers spent Rs 12.11 crore. In 2017- 2018 cabinet ministers 33.85 crore while state ministers spent Rs 17.79 crore. In 2018- 2019 cabinet ministers spent Rs 48.49 crore while state ministers spent Rs 27.83 crore.
Anil Galgali termed it as “lack of transparency” and asked why all details are not kept separately. Galgali said, “This information on travel expenditure does not give the full picture and therefore, it is a lack of transparency. The government should keep all records of each minister and their numbers of trips and their expenses and all these information should be available in public domain.”
