In the 33 months since Congress leader Meira Kumar has assumed the speaker’s post, she has gone on at least 30 “official” foreign trips, travelling from New York to Japan.
It would be an understatement to say that our Lok Sabha speaker is well travelled. In the 33 months since Congress leader Meira Kumar has assumed the speaker’s post, she has gone on at least 30 “official” foreign trips, travelling from New York to Japan.
The amount of expenditure incurred stands at Rs2 crore at least.
An RTI application filed by DNA has revealed that between June 2009 and February 2012, Kumar travelled extensively to all corners of the world such as Mexico and Austria. She also visited Switzerland on several occasions. Though the cost of her 30 trips does not seem startling, it would only be prudent to remember that it is often the host country that foots the bill for a majority of the arrangements made. The costliest trip that the daughter of late freedom fighter Babu Jagjivan Ram made was to Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, a trip that together cost over Rs40 lakhs.
A quick analysis of the information received from the Lok Sabha secretariat shows that on an average, Kumar was on a foreign shore every 33 days during the said time period. The data also reveals that out of the nearly 1,000-day period (June 2009 to Feb 2012) of her tenure as speaker, she was abroad for around 140 days.
Of her 30 visits, at least half were as part of the “Indian Parliamentary Delegation (IPD) under bilateral exchange” with other countries. It was with the IPD that Kumar, the union social justice minister in UPA’s first government, visited Geneva on four occasions. The list of countries or cities visited by the 67-year-old speaker includes Italy, Austria, Mauritius, Mongolia, Luxembourg, Hungary, UK, Switzerland, Mexico, Vietnam, Seoul (Korea), Sweden Denmark, Japan, Iran, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, New York, Thailand, Panama, Isle of Man, Swaziland, Kenya and Tanzania.
Besides travelling to these corners with her staff, Kumar also travelled to neighbouring nations like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. In Feb 2012, she created history when she became the first Lok Sabha speaker to lead a parliamentary delegation to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, on DNA’s query regarding source of her travel funds, the reply from the Lok Sabha secretariat was as follows: “The expenditure incurred in respect of salaries and allowances, including foreign travel expenses of members and officers of Parliament is borne on the budget grant of Lok Sabha, which is funded from the consolidated Fund of India, separate demand for grants in respect of Lok Sabha is also laid before both the houses of Parliament. Parliament sanctions the expenditure through the Appropriation Act every year.”
Asked that whether Kumar was expected to file a report for every foreign trip she undertook, the reply said: “No, she is not expected to file a report for every trip. However, with regard to the Statutory Assemblies of Inter Parliamentary Union a report on the participation of Indian Parliamentary Delegation is laid on the table of the house.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}