Ministries, PSUs pay for MPs' junket, own grilling

Ministries, PSUs pay for MPs' junket, own grilling
SWATI CHATURVEDI

NEW DELHI, JULY 15: Goa in the rains and a chance to dictate terms on your freebies -- accommodation, food, medical aid, phone calls and rail and air passes -- to boot. Well, a group of MPs -- members of the Lok Sabha's House Committee -- is doing just that for six days in Mumbai, Aurangabad and Goa.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has asked the ministries of Urban Development, Communications, Railways, Petroleum and Civil Aviation to make arrangements and be prepared for ``examination (of) the various facilities and other amenities accorded to MPs'', which is the main function of the House Committee. The public sector undertakings under these ministries which will pick up the tab for the junket have been asked to make ``appropriate arrangements'' for the 12 MPs and six officials of the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Senior officials of all the ministries concerned and PSUs, including Air India, Indian Oil Corporation and BPCL, will be present to reply to the questions put by the MPs on what is being described officially as a ``study tour''. In fact, a team of officials is leaving for Mumbai tomorrow to be questioned on the perks they provide to the MPs.

On the first day of the tour, officials from Communications and Railways will be questioned. On the second day it will be the turn of the Central Public Works Department officials to face the MPs on the accommodation provided to them. This will be followed by discussions with officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation on the facilities provided by IA and AI.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat has asked the ministries to provide ``suitable facilities, boarding (five-star hotels) and transport''. In an annexure to the list of demands, they have been asked to provide one liaison official who should know English and Hindi to be attached to each car.

The Secretariat has laid down that an hour-to-hour schedule is to be maintained along with a separate car and security arrangement for ``Z'' category members and those accompanied by companion/spouse.

The MPs also wished to protect their privacy. So the Secretariat has demanded that ``accommodation may be so arranged that the members are lodged on the same premises and preferably on the same floor.''

Said a senior official of the Communications Ministry who is to be grilled: ``How can you expect the PSUs to be profitable when they are milked like this? We expect the committee to make some hugely inflated demands.''

Interestingly, the MPs are allowed to reach the place of Assembly, Aurangabad, two days in advance and leave the place of departure, Goa, two days after the tour is over. The tab for this too will be picked up by the ministries and PSUs.