Harpreet Bajwa: The Indian Express; Wed Nov 03 2010,
Chandigarh : In the 19-month period between January 2009 and August 2010, Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal undertook 294 flights, with the cash-strapped government shelling out Rs 3.03 crore. For the period between May 2009-10, he used the state chopper to make at least 22 of those flights to his native village Badal. And of these 22, 11 were made in the month of May 2010 alone.
Replying to a Right To Information (RTI) query made by The Indian Express, the Punjab government has stated that Sukhbir flew 263 times on the state-leased Pawan Hans chopper, between January 31, 2009, and May 26, 2010. Another 31 times, between August 28, 2009, and August 10 this year, he flew on private planes and choppers.
His flying time on state chopper alone accounted for a staggering 175 hours, and he flew to places like Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar, Moga, Muktsar, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar, apart from Badal village. In May 2010, he also flew to the family farm in Balasar in Haryana with father and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Many of the private planes Sukhbir used took off from Delhi and flew to various destinations in Punjab. Once, Sukhbir flew to Leh carrying relief material sent by the state government for the victims of the recent cloudburst there.
The private planes he used are owned by Delhi-based companies. As many as 16 times, the Punjab government hired planes of Span Air Private Ltd, seven times the planes came from Air Charter Services Private Ltd and six times from Challenger Aviation Private Ltd.
The Punjab government paid Rs 21.30 lakh to hire a Cessna Citation XL plane for two days in May this year from Challenger Aviation. The same company was paid another Rs 19.48 lakh after the Punjab government hired a Bell 412 chopper for three days in March this year. The third highest payment was made to Sim Sam Airways Private Ltd for an MD 900 helicopter hired for two days in November and December last year for Rs 12.85 lakh.
The Pawan Hans helicopter leased by the Punjab government costs the state exchequer Rs 84,000 per hour, in addition to a fixed monthly charge of Rs 64.44 lakh.
In its reply to the RTI query, the state government also said that any aircraft or helicopter can be hired by the government for the Deputy Chief Minister or any other dignitary with approval of the competent authority.
The Deputy Chief Minister can use the state government helicopter with permission of the Chief Minister.
Asked about the matter, Media Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Harcharan Bains said: “All modes of transport, including helicopter facility, are meant to ensure that those elected to serve the people are able to put in more hours into work than in travel... It is not just the deputy chief minister, many ministers and state government officers, including the Chief Secretary, DGP and others, have used the state government helicopter many a time.”
“The Dy CM has been using the chopper for official work,” Bains added. “Also he had been visiting the flood-hit areas. Other state governments have many helicopters but Punjab has only one. The state government pays Rs 12 crore per year for this chopper, and that is why we are planning to buy our own.”
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