The air travel by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his council of Ministers has cost the State exchequer Rs.33.51 crore since he took charge of his office 32 months ago, as per a disclosure under the RTI Act.
RTI activist Bheemappa Gundappa Gadad of Belagavi, who obtained the details of amount spent on travel by aircraft and helicopter by Mr. Siddaramaiah and his 15 Cabinet colleagues on official tours from the Public Information Officer, Public Works, Bridges and Inland Water Transport Department, Bengaluru, recently, presented the details at a press conference here on Wednesday, coinciding with the visit of Mr. Siddaramaiah to Chikkodi.
The information revealed that the air charges met by the government in respect of the Chief Minister alone stood at Rs.20,11,34,971 frome May 13, 2013 to January 31, 2016. Of this, Rs.9,69,95,008 was during 2013-14, Rs.5,80,97,008 during 2014-15 and Rs.4,60,42,955 during 2015-16 till January 31, 2016.
The cost of air travel by 15 Ministers, including on foreign tours during 2013-15, stood at Rs.2,27,91,484. The highest bill of Rs.45,04,885 was paid was in respect of Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries R.V. Deshpande and lowest of Rs.2.26 lakh in respect of Horticulture Minister Shamnur Shivashankarappa.
That apart, the government has spent Rs.11,12,14,576 towards the travel cost of 31 Ministers during the last 32 months.
However, the details of Chief Minister’s foreign tours along with his ministerial colleagues was not available with the department.
Amount spent on 15 Ministers’ air travel:
R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries – Rs.45,04,885.
M.H. Ambareesh, Minister for Housing – Rs.39,91,965.
Ramanath Pai, Minister for Forests – Rs.33,50,722.
H.K. Patil, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj – Rs.20,06,213.
Abhay Chandra, Minister for Youth Empowerment – Rs.19,10,387.
T.B. Jayachandra, Minister Law and Parliament Affairs – Rs.13,04,831.
Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister for Agriculture – Rs.10,64,539.
Qamarul Islam, Minister for Municipal Administration – Rs.7,98,116.
K.J. George, Minister for Bengaluru Development – Rs.7,94,305.
S.R. Patil, Minister for Planing, IT-BT – Rs.7,13,720.
Satish L. Jarkiholi, Minister for Small-Scale Industries – Rs.7,81,077.
M.B. Patil, Minister for Water Resources – Rs.6,17,657.
V. Srinivas Prasad, Minister for Revenue – Rs.4,15,848.
H. Anjaneya, Minister for Social Welfare – Rs.3,11,200.
Shamnur Shivashankarappa, Minister for Horticulture – Rs.2,26,019.
