New Indian Express: Bengaluru: Thursday, June 28, 2018.
In his 48
months as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi made 41 trips to over 50 countries, at
a total cost of Rs 355 crore. He was
abroad for a cumulative 165 days.
This was
revealed through replies to Right to Information (RTI) queries submitted to the
Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by RTI activist Bhimappa Gadad, who shared these
replies with The New Indian Express.
Of these 41
trips by PM Modi to 52 countries, the highest amount was spent on his nine-day
tri-nation visit to France, Germany and Canada between April 9 and 15, 2015,
which incurred expenses to the tune of Rs 31,25,78,000; and the least expensive
trip was his very first one as Prime Minister, to Bhutan on June 15-16, 2014 at
a cost of Rs 2,45,27,465.
Gadad, who
filed the RTI petition seeking details about expenses on PM’s foreign trips,
said he filed it out of curiosity. “ A few years ago, I had applied for details
of foreign visits by chief ministers of Karnataka. Recently, I was going
through news reports wherein Prime Minister’s foreign visits were heavily
criticized. Then I applied under RTI seeking details of PM’s foreign visits and
I was really shocked to know the details,” he said.
He is bitter
about the PMO not providing information on domestic travels of the Prime
Minister. “They have not furnished details of domestic visits and expenses for
security provided during the visits. I did not ask for details of security
measures. I just asked for the expenses, but they refused, saying the SPG
security organisation, which takes care of PM security, is exempted from the
purview of RTI,” he said.
“Though I got
the information out of curiosity, I want it to reach the public. Everyone
should know about it,” he said, adding that the Centre should also release
reports on the benefits to the country emerging from these visits.