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| Cash starved JK spends Rs 12 Cr on helicopter sorties | | As employees remain high and dry | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 10: The government has no money to pay arears of sixth pay commission to its employees. But the cash starved state has spent Rs 12 on helicopter sorties since the past three years to take the Chief Minister and other ministers to different places. This has been disclosed by the Jammu and Kashmir government's Civil Aviation Department (CAD).
The employees' leaders surprisingly reacted cautiously when contacted by Early Times. "The Chief Minister needs a helicopter but he should not use it for purely personal trips", said a leader preferring annonymity. He urged the Chief Minister to pay what has been spent by the government on such trips.
A top official while justifying sorties from Nehru helipad to SKICC and airport said the VVIPs cannot be subjected to risks by making them travel in cars. This is an admission that situation in Kashmir is still too grim to allow free movement of VIPs. It deflates the normality claim of the government. "If the VIPs cannot travel by cars, it means the security situation is not as rosy as is being projected", said a commoner.
The information was furnished on an application filed under RTI by Bashir Ahmad Malik of Budgam. He had first sought the information from Chief Minister's office. The CM's office refused to divulge details. However, the application was then filed in the Chief Information Commissioner's office who forwarded it to CAD.
The details show the expenditure incurred on the usage of the state chopper service from 2009 up to June 2011. Interestingly, the state's civil aviation department is directly under the control of chief minister Omar Abdullah.
The CAD said, in 2009-2010, the expenditure on the chopper service had been Rs 2,49,99910. This includes maintenance, inspection and examination charges of Rs 2, 09,14566, renewal of the license charge of Rs 44,265, landing and parking charges of Rs 6,52365 and insurance of aircraft/helicopters charge of Rs 33,88714. The sorties consumed fuel worth Rs 93,75327 while the salary of pilots amounted to Rs 1,19,63190. The total expenditure for the year had been over Rs 4 crores.
Some trips made by the Chief Minister and other Ministers were strictly personal . The places include Jammu to Katra, Gulmarg to Nehru Helipad, Jammu to Rajouri, Rajouri to
Sharda Sharief, Nehru Helipad to Srinagar Airport, Nehru Helipad to Ganderbal, Nehru Helipad to SKICC, Pahalgam to Nehru Helipad, SKICC to Ganderbal and others," the CAD revealed.
The overall expenditure this year till June 2011 stands at Rs 78,08,567. This year the trips have been made from Mattan to Ashmuqam, Nehru Helipad to Jammu, Kishtwar to Jammu, Jammu to Magam, Jammu to Kalakote, Nehru Helipad to Beerwah, Nehru Helipad to SKICC and others. |
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