New Delhi, September 10
The UPA government’s fresh austerity measures banning first-class air travel, foreign junkets and entertainment in five-star hotels has got its own ministers grumbling. Irked by the new guidelines put out by the Finance Ministry, agitated ministers questioned this directive at the today’s Union Cabinet meeting with many pointing out that these were impractical, did not add up to much.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma was among the most vocal on this issue followed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
While pointing out that his work entailed extensive travel, Sharma complained that their daily allowance of $75 meant to meet their meal expenses was fixed over a decade ago and actually needed an upward revision.He pointed out that the daily allowance used to be $100 but was reduced during the Kargil war and had not been revised since then. He said though ministers were put up in luxurious hotels abroad, they were unable to meet their daily expenses on this meagre allowance and were consequently always on the look out for local hospitality.
Sharma said he was often required to undertake 12-13 hour-long air journeys after which he had to attend high-pressure meetings. There is no harm in travelling first class in such situations, he added.
Pawar, on his part, questioned the ban on meetings and conferences in five-star hotels. He said such a directive was difficult to follow as their meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries were conducted at five-star hotels and were invariably followed by a meal. What should a minister do in such a situation, he queried.
However, this discussions also had its lighthearted moments. Pawar drew attention to the plight of a fat person being given a middle seat in economy class while his colleague Farooq Abdullah pointed to his long legs and wondered how a tall person would manage in a cramped economy class seat.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was, however, not amused over the questions raised over the austerity drive.he said these were only guidelines and were left to the discretion of individual ministers. Mukherjee said this was not the first time that ministers and MPs had agreed to observe such measures when the country was going through troubled times.
He quoted extensively from official figures to point to the country’s precarious economic
situation and the need to tighten their belts. He said the government could afford to be liberal when the economy was growing at nine per cent to which ministers wanted to know as to why their salaries had not been raised during the boom period.
Besides issuing a host of austerity measures for ministers and government officials, the Finance Ministry had recently also announced a 10 per cent cut in the non-plan expenditure.
Just two days ago, Mukherjee had asked External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and his junior minister Shashi Tharoor to vacate their five-star hotel rooms, where they were staying as the official bungalows allotted to them were still being renovated.
The UPA government was particularly embarrassed by these reports as Congress president Sonia Gandhi has always exhorted party members to adopt a simple lifestyle to show concern for those who are less fortunate. She had reiterated this at the last month’s meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), where she had directed party MPs and legislators to take a 20 per cent cut in their salaries in solidarity with those suffering due to prevailing drought conditions.
