maniac Posted March 26, 2012 Posted March 26, 2012 President Pratibha Patil's wanderlust has cost the public exchequer a whopping Rs 205 crore on her foreign visits, surpassing the record of all her predecessors. Since assuming office as the country's first woman President in July 2007, Patil has undertaken 12 foreign trips covering 22 countries across four continents. She has four more months to go for her five-year tenure and a trip to South Africa is said to be on the anvil. A series of RTI applications has revealed that Air India incurred over Rs 169 crore on use of chartered aircraft, always a Boeing 747-400, on the foreign visits by Patil, mostly accompanied by her family members. A visit to Bhutan was covered by a smaller jet. A further sum of nearly Rs 36 crore has been incurred by the ministry of external affairs on accommodation, local travel, daily allowance and "miscellaneous" expenses, according to the information provided by the ministry. The RTI applications were filed over a period of three years during which the authorities concerned showed great reluctance to reveal information. The ministry of defence, which pays Air India for use of chartered aircraft by the President, fended off RTI queries and provided little information. Air India has billed the defence ministry for over Rs 169 crore on account of aircraft used by Patil. Of this, the ministry has paid nearly Rs 153 crore, leaving unpaid bills of over Rs 16 crore. Patil has so far visited Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Bhutan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, the UK, Cyprus, China, Laos, Cambodia, the UAE, Syria, Mauritius, South Korea, Switzerland and Austria spending a total of 79 days abroad. Her immediate predecessor Dr A P J Abdul Kalam undertook seven trips to 17 countries during his five-year tenure. Before that, K R Narayanan covered 10 countries in six trips and S D Sharma 16 countries in four trips. Details of other Presidents are not available but its unlikely that Patil's record of foreign travel is matched by any of her predecessors. Former President Kalam remained on foreign trips for 47 days during his tenure covering the UAE (twice), Sudan, Bulgaria, Tanzania, South Africa, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Iceland, Ukraine, Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, Myanmar, Mauritius, France and Greece. His predecessor Narayanan visited Peru, Brazil, Nepal, Germany, Portugal, Luxembourg, Turkey, Germany, France and China in his six trips abroad in 46 days of his tenure. Sharma, who was President between 1992-97, also covered 16 countries in four trips which included Ukraine, Turkey, Hungary, the UK, Bulgaria, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Oman, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Italy. He remained on these trips for 47 days of his five-year tenure.
gs Posted March 26, 2012 Posted March 26, 2012 The president's position should be scrapped. What a waste of public resources!! Wonder what these foreign trips have accomplished?!?
Texy Posted March 26, 2012 Posted March 26, 2012 The president's position should be scrapped. What a waste of public resources!! Wonder what these foreign trips have accomplished?!? Trips didn't accomplish anything but vacation for Pratibha Patil & her whole family after years of brown nosing kangress party. Those "miscellaneous" spending could be attributed to a # of things. Looting the taxpayers one at a time. This is nothing....70 lakh crores public tax money that politicians have been looting from public is hidden in swiss accounts. Imagine if that money is distributed amongst poor & middle class. They say British looted India and financed their WW2 campaign but our ministers have looted on a much higher scale ever since independence
Trichromatic Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 What about her Goa visit which officials claimed to be private visit and raised objection over her photographs and then it turned out that her visit was sponsored by the Govt.
Trichromatic Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 Panaji, April 23 (IANS) President Pratibha Patil's controversial four-day visit to Goa in January this year was an official visit and not a private trip as announced earlier, a Right to Information (RTI) activist said Saturday. Documents sourced from the state protocol department under the RTI Act by advocate Aires Rodrigues show that the state government paid Rs.20,000 for boat rides, para-sailing and jet ski rides for the president and some select members of her entourage. It also spent Rs.4,400 on flowers and bouquets offered to India's first woman president. 'The entire trip cost the government of Goa Rs.14.18 lakh. Why was this official trip masked as a private visit by the president? According to the RTI documents, the Goa government was informed about the president's visit only two days before she landed here on January 3,' Rodrigues said. 'President Patil was on a private holiday to Goa. Her visit was sought to be shown as official so that the expenditure could be charged to the state exchequer,' Rodrigues claimed. He asked the authorities to explain 'what was the official purpose of President Pratibha Patil's four-day visit to Goa'. Giving a break-up of the expenses, he said that while Rs.3,20,250 was spent on lodging and boarding expenses at Cidade de Goa for the members of the president's entourage, a further sum of Rs.1,29,915 was spent on those housed at the Goa International Centre, a branch of the India International Centre, New Delhi. A total of Rs.6,23,188 was spent on vehicles hired from the Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Rs.2,01,220 was spent on the lunch and visit by the president to Taj Exotica at Benaulim Jan 4. The lunch hosted Jan 6 by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat at Cidade de Goa in honour of President Patil cost the exchequer Rs.1,19,999. Incidentally, the president courted controversy after photojournalists captured images of the sari-clad president sunning herself on a beach bed in the midst of foreign tourists clad only in swimwear at the Benaulim beach. The photographs were subsequently published in local newspapers. Three photographers were summoned by the police for taking the photographs, which had invited the ire of the president. Police had claimed that the visit was private and the photographs were a 'breach of protocol'. Officials of the state protocol department were unavailable for comment.
Stuge Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 Bhai,I want to become president of India .My dream to visit Antarctica will come true in non time .
Clarke Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 What's new here ? We already spend crores on the Rashtrapati Bhavan, add some additional trips/benefits to it. If these trips were official, its well worth the cost in maintaining relations with other countries. The economist recently revealed that India has fewer foreign diplomats than New Zealand; surely we need to spend more money on that aspect ..
hari504504 Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 The president has been to Switzerland too ?? :hmmm: Et tu Brutus :haha:
Sachin=GOD Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 There wouldn't be much reaction if the President was of any use (Like Dr. Kalam).
gs Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 Trips didn't accomplish anything but vacation for Pratibha Patil & her whole family after years of brown nosing kangress party. Those "miscellaneous" spending could be attributed to a # of things. Looting the taxpayers one at a time. This is nothing....70 lakh crores public tax money that politicians have been looting from public is hidden in swiss accounts. Imagine if that money is distributed amongst poor & middle class. They say British looted India and financed their WW2 campaign but our ministers have looted on a much higher scale ever since independence +1. Thanks to the "chalta hai" attitude - jai ho!
urbestfriend Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Don't see an issue if president decides to tour for improving bilateral relationship, but the money spent on her foreign visit is just ridiculous! Almost 19 crores per trip, when the same could have been accomplished in less than 5 crores per trip. President has become a tool for some bureaucrats and some media persons closer to governement to enjoy free abroad trip at the government expense and these trips , more often than not, doesn't accomplish any significant things. This raises a pertinent question, should the post of president be abolished forever? President as well as governors of the state, in our constitution, has very limited responsibilities and become a retirement home for senior politicians of ruling parties. Cost incurred by the government for maintaining this post is too humongous and it makes more sense to abolish presidency.
adi B Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 buddhiya is just a pet of kaangress party, the party sponsors her trips for which they get to misuse all the powers of the president....heard her son hijacked a plane to mexico for some business consultation :ohmy: just a sad story for indians :facepalm:
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