An RTI query has revealed that Manmohan Singh's ministers have spent Rs 42 crore on foreign travel in the last one year.Sep 28, 2011

Union ministers spent Rs 42 cr on foreign travel in 2010-11
TNN | Sep 28, 2011, 01.23AM IST



An RTI query has revealed that Manmohan Singh's ministers have spent Rs 42 crore on foreign travel in the last one year.

NEW DELHI: The government spent about Rs 42 crore on foreign travel by Union ministers in the last one year, the cabinet secretariat said in response to an RTI query. While Cabinet ministers spent Rs 37.16 crore on their foreign visits, ministers of state spent about Rs 4.76 crore.

The total spending by the public exchequer was Rs 41.82 crore for the year 2010-11. The expense incurred by ministers was given to activist S C Agrawal after instructions from chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra who directed the disclosure. Agrawal had sought to know from the cabinet secretariat the travel details of Union ministers for the last three years but he was told that the information was "scattered" across different ministries and he would have to collect it from them separately. When the matter reached the Central Information Commission, the cabinet secretariat reiterated its position.

The secretariat also noted that to collate the information, a large volume of records and documents would have to be scrutinised which would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority.

"While we tend to agree with the submission made by the respondents (cabinet secretariat), we think it would be in the interest of transparency if some key information about the domestic and international travel by Union ministers could be maintained centrally in cabinet secretariat itself, especially since the pay and accounts office under it is responsible for all accounting details for payment of salary and reimbursement of their travel expenditure," Mishra said in his order.