RTI was filed by retired commissioner Lokesh Batra.
According to documents accessed under RTI act, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign trips have cost the exchequer over Rs 37 crores in the last one year, reports an English daily. The RTI was filed by Comm (retd) Lokesh Batra.
According to the report, the document reportedly reveals that Indian missions in 16 countries out of the 20 that PM Modi visited, have spent Rs 37.22 crore in one year. However, the missions in Japan, Sri Lanka, France and South Korea reportedly denied to disclose the information.
PM Modi's first foreign trip which was to New York in Septemeber 2014 reportedly cost over Rs 62 lakhs, with Rs 9.16 lakh being spent on hotel accomodation for the SPG delegation and Rs 11.51 lakh for hotel rooms for PM and other officials. Around Rs 39 lakh was spent on car rentals for the SPG delagation and Rs 3 lakh was spent on Prasar Bharti for coverage of PM Modi's visit, states the report.
Other expensive trips were made to Australia, Germany, Fiji and China; the cheapest of all trips was made to Bhutan which reportedly cost Rs 41.33 lakh.
Also read: Modi to focus on innovation, digital economy, clean energy during US visit
PM Modi, who is often accused of 'Selfie Diplomacy', was overseas for 53 out of 365 days.
Earlier, in May 2015, BJP President Amit Shah had debunked criticism of Congress about PM Modi's foreign visits, saying that UPA prime minister Manmohan Singh had undertaken same number of trips abroad.
"I hear people saying that Modi is only interested in foreign tours and has made a number of trips in a year. But I want to say that Modiji has undertaken the same number of tours as former PM Manmohan Singh. The only difference is that people never came to know about his tours," Shah said here while addressing a BJP state executive meet.
"When Modiji undertakes a trip abroad, thousands of Indians wait to welcome him and foreign nations are eager to do business with India," he added.
Related read: Why Narendra Modi's UAE visit is of much symbolic importance
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