Dy. CM Nirmal Singh tops ‘frequent flier' miles
Over Rs. 80 lac spent on lunches, tea parties by CM in two years
Mudassir Ahmad
Srinagar, June 28: At a time when thousands of daily wagers are without salaries for months, government has spent more than five crore rupees on choppers used by the ministers in the last one year while travelling in and outside state.
In a written response, government on Monday in the Legislative Assembly said that as much as Rs 5.04 crore was spent over the choppers which included its maintenance and other charges.
It said out of Rs.5.04, Rs.3.93 Cr had been spent over the maintenance and inspection of two helicopters and one fixed wing plane during last year.
The landing and parking charges has cost up to Rs.16.92 lacs while Rs.79 lacs has been spent as fuel charges for the same.
These helicopter charges, government said has been spent on the official tours of the Ministers to in and outside states for official purposes.
The tours have not only been made between Srinagar and Jammu but also to the hilly areas of the state including Kishtwar and Doda.
Outside state tours include Bangalore, Mysore, Bhopal, Chennai and New Delhi by ministers and former minsters during the last one year.
The maximum travel charges have been incurred by former Chief Minister and the Governor besides the cabinet ministers, the ministers of state including tourism minister Priya Sethi, Asiya Naqash have used the state choppers.
Mehbooba Mufti has mostly preferred the state aircraft while travelling between Jammu- New Delhi after she took over as Chief Minister of the state.
In a time of 18 days, nine sorties have been made to ferry the chief minister between the National Capital and Srinagar between April 12 to April 18.
Among the other frequent users, Governor N N Vohra has been using state aircraft and chopper five times during this year so far. As per the figures, Vohra made frequent visits to New Delhi after the demise of Mufti Muhammad Sayeed in the month of February.
The state choppers have been mostly used during the winter season as the ministers had to tour to the valley frequently after the shifting of Darbar Move to winter capital Jammu.
In reply to another question by MLA, Khanyar Ali Mohammad Sagar about the expenditure by Hospitality and Protocol department in hosting lunch and dinner by Chief Minister and other officials, it has been disclosed that money spent on single function even went upto Rs.4.7 lac.
The expenditure incurred on oath ceremony of Chief Minister and his council of ministers on March 1, 2015 was Rs.9.9 lac while as the money spent on the Iftaar party by Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on July, 3 cost the state Rs.9.4 lac.
The expenditure incurred during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state February 2, 2014 was Rs.4.7 lac.
The Hospitality and Protocol department has spent whopping sums of money on lunch and dinner hosted by Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
In 2014-15 financial year, 8.03 lac has been spent as refreshment, farewell parties and other official functions by the Chief Ministers including that by Omar Abdullah.
In the last financial year, Rs 2.2 lac have been spent on tea parties and refreshment from April 1, 2015 to March 31 2016. Rs. 41.8 lac have been spend by the Chief Minister in meeting deputation and other official functions.
In the 2014-15and 2015-16 financial year, Rs.4.7 Lac has also been spent by the hospitality and protocol department on refreshment and lunch of officers.
