Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 14: The Chief Minister's Secretariat has clearly evaded revealing the information regarding CM's visits, inside and outside Jammu and Kashmir.
Whereas it has provided the details of helicopter/ State aircraft used for his tours but are trying to avoid the questions regarding his stay inside and outside the State on the grounds of security reasons.
In a reply to information sought under Right to Information Act (RTI) filed by the reporter on Feb 2, 2011, seeking details on how many days was the Chief Minister out of the State during the period from May 9, 2011 to October 31, 2011 and how many days CM was in Jammu from November 9, 2011 to January 31, 2012.
The Chief Minister’s Secretariat replied after more than two months (Which should have been answered with in one month as per guidelines of RTI), "for security and other reasons, it may inappropriate to share the precise details of the stay and the movement of the Chief Minister whether at Jammu or Srinagar or any other location."
Whereas, a high level security expert (requesting anonymity) told Early Times, "How it is a matter of security if the tour has already been held, they cannot disclose details of personal tours of the CM but at least official tours can be disclosed."
"If they can give the details of the Helicopter/State Aircraft used by the Chief Minister, then why can't they provide the details of his stay in Jammu, Srinagar or outside the State?," he added.
While evading answering to the questions, the RTI Cell of Chief Minister's Secretariat replied vide reply no. cms/gen/76/24/2012, dated April 17, 2012, "the exact details during the period are not readily available. The Chief Minister keeps traveling to different parts of the State in connection with official engagements irrespective of the fact whether the offices are headquartered at Jammu or Srinagar."
Whereas, the RTI cell of Civil Aviation department has given full details of CM's tours to the different parts of the State as well as the nation.
According to the reply by the Civil Aviation department of the State under RTI, the Chief Minister has used State Helicopter 43 times for his visit to different parts of the State in 9 months, from May 9, 2012 to January 31, 2012. Meanwhile, the State Aircraft has been used by the Chief Minister to travel outside as well as inside the State for 56 times in same nine months.
However it has been mentioned in the RTI reply that the Chief Minister has not claimed any T.A, D.A during the period. |
