Austerity drive: PMO turns down 21 foreign trip proposals by Union Ministers

According to an Indian Express report, PM Narendra Modi red flagged nearly 25% of the requests for foreign trips from his cabinet colleagues. Twelve Union Ministers have been tuned down in the timeframe between May to December. Among the noteworthy who were not granted clearance are Nitin Gadkari, VK Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman. 

Of the 21 (out of 88) proposals that were rejected, the PMO directly intervened in nine of the cases. RTI documents accessed by Express reveal eight proposals were cancelled by the respective ministries and four were cancelled at a later stage. Incidentally, Goa MP Shripad Naik got the worst snub with six out of his eight trips overruled by the government. He was subsequently shifted to the Ministry of Health and Welfare from Culture and Tourism. A couple of private tours of Shripad Naik and one of Najma Heptullah were not given the green signal. Apart from them, Union Minster Nitin Gadkari's request to visit UK and Holland, Nirmala Sitharaman's request to visit Bangkok and VK Singh's request to visit UN, Cairo and UAE also didn't get approval although all were for official purposes.

Incidentally, the PM has undertaken several foreign trips since coming to power in May last year. He has been criticised by the opposition but his supporters say the tours generated unprecedented buzz, especially among the Indian diaspora. Although minister level tours have decreased considerably from the last UPA era, secretary level tours are on the rise, according to the report.