337 foreign jaunts by ministers as PM vows austerity

December 06, 2011 14:53

Three hundred and thirty seven. That's the number of foreign visits made by Union Ministers in 2011. And that, is when government is on an austerity drive.

In this report, filed by our Delhi correspondent, there were 240 foreign trips by ministers in 2009, when the OK was granted by the Ministry of External Affairs. In 2010 there were 406 foreign visits.

Ever since the government introduced austerity measures with a curb on foreign travel, the nod for foreign trips was granted by the PM. However, Dr Singh approved 96.89 per cent of the visits in 2010 and 96.01 per cent in 2011.
He cleared as many as 406 of the 419 requests, including 97 for personal visits, during 2010 and 337 of the 351 received until November this year.

The government may take say that there were fewer requests for foreign trips, but the PMO has failed to shoot down frivolous trips.

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