PMO spent more than Rs. 371 crore only on PMs foreign tours
It sounds unbelievable, but it is true. Five Prime Ministers including Dr. Manmohan Singh, and his four predecessors, who occupied Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for as many as 6189 days since May 16, 1996, spent more than Rs. 371 crore only on foreign tours. It happens only in India.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has spent more than Rs. 371,41,06,538/- on foreign tours of five out of six living prime ministers, including Dr. Manmohan Singh, during the past 12 years (since 1996). The highest expenditure incurred on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee – Rs. 210 crore.
This startling disclosure was made by Amit Agrawal, Director and Central Public Information Officer under the Right to Information Act, 2005. He clamed that Rs. 4470962 were spent medical treatment of Vajpayee between April 11, 2002 and March 24, 2006. Majority of the expenditure incurred on foreign visits of prime ministers on hiring of chartered air crafts from Air India. The PMO has also spent more than Rs. 22 lakh on domestic travel of four former prime ministers including V.P.Singh, P.V.Narasimha Rao (now dead), H D Dave Gowda and I.K.Gujral between 2000 and 2007.
Revealing information about medical and traveling expenses of Prime Ministers of India to Mr. Chetan Kothari who had sought information from the Prime Minister's Office under Right to Information Act, Agrawal claimed that the records of prime ministers foreign tours prior to 1996 have been weeded out.
According to documents, "the Prime Minister's Office does not incur any expenditure on account of domestic tours of Prime Minister. As regards former prime ministers, travel facilities to the extent of six return journeys by air by executive class, along with spouse, and fee train travel in the highest class with spouse, without any ceiling, are provided since 1996."
Ironically, "information of such expenditure is available with the PMO only from 2000 on wards. Prior to 2000 have been weeded out," Mr Agrawal claimed in his four-page documents on information about medical and traveling expenses of Prime Ministers of India under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee shared the highest expenditure (Rs. 667,998,000) in 2005 followed by Rs. 620,953,000 by Vajpayee alone in 2003 and Rs. 531281000 by Manmohan Singh in 2006.
Information revealed that the expenditure on account of medical treatment of the prime minister is generally met by the Department of Health & Family Welfare, however, in 2002, altogether Rs.18,99,564; followed by 25,34,050 in 2003 and Rs.3500 in 2006 (Total Rs. 44,70,962) respectively were spent on medical treatment of Vajpayee. These amounts were sanctioned by the PMO.
According to report, Rs. 10,67,380 expemditure incurred on domestic travels of former prime ministers V P Singh, Rs. 562285 on P V Narasimha rao, Rs. 4,07,535 on H D Dave Gowda and Rs. 7,01510 on I K Gujral between 2000 and 2007.
BOX-1
EXPENDITURE ON FOREIGN VISIT OF PRIME MINISTER ON HIRING OF CHARTERED AIR CRAFT FROM AIR INDIA
YEAR NAME OF THE PRIME MINISTERS EXPENDITURE
1996 Atal Bihar Vajpayee+H.D. Dave Gowda - Rs. 64891000/-
1997 H D Dave Gowda + I K Gujral - Rs. 210534000/-
1998 I K Gujral + Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 137893000/-
1999 Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 136742570/-
2000 Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 105207000/-
2001 Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 480631000/-
2002 Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 507156968/-
2003 Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Rs. 620953000/-
2004 Atal Bihari Vajpayee + Manmohan Singh - Rs. 250819000/-
2005 Manmohan Singh - Rs. 667998000/-
2006 Manmohan Singh - Rs. 531281000/-
TOTAL Rs. 3,714,106,538
BOX-2
PRIME MINISTERS OF INDIA (DURATION IN OFFICE)
NAME OF PRIME MINISTERS IN OFFICE
1. Jawaharlal Nehru 6131 days
2. Gulzarilal Nanda 4 days + 14 days
3. Lal Bahadur Shashtri 582 days
4. Indira Gandhi 4078 days + 1753 days
5. Morarji Desai 857 days
6. Charan Singh 171 days
7. Rajiv Gandhi 1858 days
8. V P Singh 341 days
9. Chandra Shekhar 224 days
10. P V Narasimha Rao 1790 days
11. Atal Bihari Vajpayee 13 days + 2268 days
12. H D Dave Gowda 325 days
13. I K Gujral 333 days
14. Dr. Manmohan Singh May 22 June, 2004 onwards
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