The ‘tour expenses’ of the Union council of ministers in the current financial year (2011-12 ) has surprisingly shot up 10 times, from a budgeted estimate of Rs 46.95 crore to Rs 499.9 crore in the revised estimates.
This surge seems largely due to the government settling long-pending dues on VVIP travel to the government carrier, Air India. In 2010–11, the expenses ministers incurred on travel was only Rs 62.4 crore in the revised estimates. The Budget estimates for that year had pegged a higher Rs 102.5 crore.
With AI in the midst of a financial crisis and in urgent need of money to pay its staffers, the government was forced to pay its dues on account of travel by the President and the Prime Minister.
AI has dedicated aircraft for travel by these VVIPs. While the government dues were actually Rs 550 crore, it paid Rs 250 crore to AI in 2011.
For some years, travel expenses of cabinet ministers and ministers of state has been under focus due to the call for austerity measures by UPA coalition chief Sonia Gandhi, urging all of them to cut on these. Annual travel expenses of ministers in these past few years have been around Rs 100 crore.
In 2009-10, the budget estimates for ministers’ tour expenses was Rs 160.8 crore; in the revised estimates, it came down to Rs 96.5 crore. In 2010–11, the estimate for tour expenses were pegged in the Budget at Rs 102.5 crore; the revised estimates had almost halved this to Rs 62.4 crore.
From the current financial year, the budget item on ‘Travel expenses of council of ministers’ have started including a ‘Provision for maintenance of aircraft utilised by VVIPs’. This is apart from the component of expenditure on travel by the ministers and ex-Prime Ministers.
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In keeping with this new component, the budget estimates for 2012-2013, for tour expenses have been pegged at a more realistic Rs 260.95 crore, far more than what was budgeted in recent years.
On account of this sharp increase in the revised estimate for travel expenses by ministers in 2011-2012, the item on ‘Total budget of the council of ministers’ (which includes the cabinet secretariat and the PM’s Office) has spiralled from a budgeted Rs 152.4 crore to Rs 606.6 crore.