What austerity? Maharashtra ministers run up Rs 6 crore air fare bill

The Government of India, having re-initiated a series of austerity measures to restrict fiscal deficit to the budgeted 4.8 per cent of GDP this year, might want to send in a polite directive to ministers in Maharashtra’s state government who have run up airfare bills worth Rs 6.28 crore in the past three years. Incidentally, the Maharashtra government has itself issued advisories to its employees to curb its expenses. [caption id=“attachment_117998” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Leading the list of ministers with large air travel itineraries is Minister for Forests and Rehabilitation Dr Patangrao Kadam of the Congress, whose air tickets have added up to Rs 43 lakh in three years. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s flight expenses since he took charge are Rs 6.32 lakh, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar notched up Rs 10.28 lakh and Home Minster R R Patil spent Rs 14.35 lakh in airfare bills in three years. PWD Minister Chaggan Bhujbal spent Rs 18 lakh, Suburban Mumbai’s guardian minister and minister for minority affairs Naseem Khan spent Rs 18.76 lakh and Education Minister Rajendra Darda spent Rs 19.29 lakh. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan spent Rs 1.46 lakhs on air travel during the period from November 2009 to November 2010. The information was provided by the Pay & Accounts Department of the Government of Maharashtra to Right to Information activist Anil Galgali. The information on approved expenses pertains to the period from November 2009 to January 2013 and includes travel expenses incurred by the CM and his council of Ministers, a total sum of Rs 6,28,83,598. Notably, these expenses are over and above the costs incurred by the government’s own plane and helicopters. There is no ceiling on the expenses incurred by ministers on this account. “Even then, at a time like this when the state is burdened by debt and the drought relief work, it should be the moral duty of ministers to observe some restraint,” said Galgali. Writing to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Galgali has sought a directive to ministers to reduce these expenses by opting to travel by train instead. “It can be seen that they have used flights to destinations connected by trains,” he said. Earlier this month, Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and his office travelled to work by the Delhi Metro in a gesture aimed at popularising public transport with a view to cut down on transportation bills and fuel costs, against a backdrop of burgeoning current account deficit (CAD) in 2012-13 on account of mounting imports including of crude oil. Moily’s ministry has launched measures such as Bus Day and a nationwide six-week campaign to propagate conservation of oil and gas to cut the oil import bill. Meanwhile, here is the list of ministers’ flight expenses as provided by the Government of Maharashtra: Dr Patangrao Kadam: Rs 42,40,616 Anil Deshmukh: Rs 39.54 lakh Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil: Rs 36 lakh Fauziya Khan: Rs 32.48 lakh Narayan Rane: Rs 31.29 lakh Dr Nitin Raut: Rs 28.93 lakh Sunil Tatkare: Rs 26.88 lakh Balasaheb Thorat: Rs 24.95 lakh Jayant Patil: Rs 21.70 lakh Jaydutt Kshirsagar: Rs 20.83 lakh Shivajirao Moghe: Rs 19.73 lakh Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar: Rs 4. 66 lakh Prof Laxman Dhoble: Rs 9.43 lakhs Subhash Zanak: Rs 7.66 lakh Hasan Musrif: Rs 9.75 lakh Ganesh Naik: Rs 39,000 DP Sawant: Rs 13.60 lakh Padmakar Valvi: Rs 15.83 lakh Ranjeet Kamble: Rs 14.79 lakh Varsha Gaikwad: Rs 12.59 lakh Ramesh Bagve: Rs 3.12 lakh Sachin Ahir: Rs 1.88 lakh Abdul Sattar: Rs 6.95 lakh Prakash Solankhe: Rs 9.57 lakh Vijay Vaddetivar: Rs 10.35 lakh Bhaskar Jadhav: Rs 7.57 lakh Rajesh Tope: Rs 9.01 lakh Suresh Shetty: Rs 13.81 lakh Harshwardhan Patil: Rs 8.62 lakh Manohar Naik: Rs 1.35 lakh Dr Vijay Kumar Gavit: Rs 5.69 lakh Babanrao Pachpute: Rs 9.20 lakh Sanjay Devtale: Rs 15.41 lakh Gulabrao Devkar: Rs 8.24 lakh Rajendra Gavit: Rs 2.50 lakh Rajendra Mulak: Rs 13.71 lakh