Indian PM Spends a Whopping 642 Crore on Travel


Bangalore: Strong austerity measures are being taken up from time to time by the Central Government to deal with increasing inflation in the country. But on the other hand, a study of the travelling expenses of so many ministers shows that it does not correspond with the government’s measures of strictness. The Cabinet ministers, ministers of state and even Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime minister of India spent huge amounts on their domestic and overseas trips over the last few years.
This has raised questions by many sections of the society on the government’s policy to control expenditure and also inflation. Given here is the list of travelling expenditures incurred by the Ministers of India during the year 2004 to 2011, as reported by The Hindu.

Manmohan Singh-

The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh’s foreign trip by means of air travel has hugely affected the government’s funds as he has spent a whopping amount of 642 crore in the previous nine years.

The information on PM’s official visits gives an insight about the overall 67 travels undertaken by Dr. Singh since 2004 when his tenure as PM started. The bills of his 62 visits were received whereas the other five still remain a mystery.  Among all the visits of the Prime minister, the highest expenditure of 26.94 crore was incurred from his weeklong visit to Mexico and Brazil in 2012 for attending the G20 Summit and Rio +20 Summit. There is also an expense of 22.70 crore used up for travelling to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, BRIC Summit and IBSA Summit at Washington DC, and Brazil in 2010. All theis information is disclosed by the PMO as part of obligations under the compulsory proactive revelation clause of the Right to Information Act.