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| Sorry, no money for daily wagers, whatever state had, it spent on sorties of VVIPs | | | Bashir Assad
SRINAGAR, Apr 5: When Finance Minister Abdul. Rahim Rather announced austerity measures in 2010, people thought that state will prosper now, however, two years down the lane, the expenses on travels and journeys of VVIPs show an ever increasing trend and Panthers Party legislator Harshdev Singh during the just concluded budget session of the state legislature reminded the government its order on austerity but to no avail. Daily wagers and casual labours agitated for the whole month of March when assembly was in session demanding release of their monthly emoluments which the government overtly or covertly turned down pleading non-availability of funds as the reason. However, when it comes to the expenditure incurred on travels of VVIPs, sky is the limit.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has incurred an expenditure of Rs. 11,15,70,279 from January 2009 to March 2012 on State Aircrafts and State Helicopters to facilitate movement of VVIPs including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Governor and the council of ministers in coalition government.
State Civil Aviation Department has one Aircraft King Air-350 and 2 Helicopters viz. Bell 407 and Augusta-109E. Total expenditure incurred on the movement of Chief Minister and his council of Ministers during last three years through state Sorties is Rs. 11,15,70,279 which is in addition to the Crores of rupees spent on travels of ministers and their families during the same period in and outside the state by routine flights.
Maintenance charges of State Air Craft and 2 Helicopters which include maintenance/ inspection/labour charges, Landing and Parking charges, Insurance and Fuel Charges during 2009-10 according to the official figures was 3,43, 31,017 while in 2010-11 it was 4,40,54,915 and during 2011-12 it is 3,31, 84,347.
Interestingly , the details of sorties carried out by aircraft during last three years show route check and test flights to Bhopal and Ajmer like far-off places. On January 2,3,4,5,7,10,15,16,19,21,22,24,25,26,27,28 and 29, the State Air Craft King Air 350VT-JKK according to the official details has carried out sorties to Srinagar, Jammu, Delhi, Bhopal and Leh for official, positioning, route-check purposes and exam sortie of pilot , however, details about each sortie carried out by the state aircraft are not given. King Air-350 alone has carried out 849 sorties during these three years while as Bell 407 helicopter conducted highest number of 1958 sorties during the same time period. Maximum number of 836 sorties was carried out in 2010, 591 in 2009 and 454 in 2011 by the state helicopter to various destinations across the State. In the first two months of 2012 the Bell helicopter has already conducted 77 sorties this year, the report of the state Aviation department said.
Another helicopter in the state fleet Augusta-109E has conducted 1362 sorties between 2009 till March 15,2012. It carried out 571 sorties in 2010, 459 in 2009 and 304 in 2011, the report said.
What is more interesting to note is that family journeys have also been undertaken by VVIPs on state expenses though admissible under rules, however, in clear violation of the austerity measures announced by the government in 2010. Among the senior cabinet ministers Minister for Technical education, youth services and sports and Medical education boarded 225 flights incurring an expenditure of 11.86 lakh between Jan 5, 2010 to 30 November 2011.
Health, Horticulture and Floriculture Minister boarded 137 flights between 23 September 2010 to 11 April 2011.Rural, Panchayati Ra and Parliamentary Affairs Minister spent 6.34 lakh on air fare and TA/DA while Finance Minister spent 4.4 lakh, Deputy Chief Minister 3.1 lakh, Forest Minister 5.2 lakh, Tourism Minister 4.84 lakh, Revenue Minister 4.64 lakh, Higher Education Minister 5.48 lakh and Industries Minister 2.1 lakh respectively.
In the last two years Omar has spent Rs 3.76 crore on renovation work to match his personal taste. After decorating his house Rs 312.56 lakh in 2010-11, Omar again spent 63.60 lakhs in 2011-12 on his accommodation. However, Omar has not claimed any TA/DA from the State exchequer during the same period.
His deputy from the Congress party Tara Chand has spent only Ra 20 lakh in comparison to a hefty amount of Rs 3.76 crore in the last two years on his house renovation work.
The tainted Congress Minister who is still holding on to his post in the Omar's council of ministers Peerzada Mohd Sayeed has also spent Rs 25.8 lakh on his accommodation to ensure his comfortable stay.
The State Finance Minister AR Rather and Agriculture Minister GH Mir have both spent Rs 50 lakh (approximately) on their house accommodations while another senior Cabinet Minister heading Rural development and Panchayati Raj Minister Ali Mohd Sagar spent Rs 22.92 lakh in the last two years on his comfortable stay. Industries Minister spent 27 lakhs.
The burden on state exchequer in terms of expenses incurred on travels and security of ministers has been ever increasing and astoundingly when it comes to the bread earning of poor and underprivileged, the same ministers while shedding crocodile tears regret that the state was debt ridden.
The year-wise details of travels, including travels outside the state by council of ministers and Vice Chairpersons of various advisory boards/commissions during last two years has burdened the state exchequer by hundreds of Crores while on the other hand the government is not in a position to pay monthly remuneration of 1500 to 3000 each to daily wagers and casual labours engaged in various departments who have been agitating for last one month or so for the same. |
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