Air Travellers Association (India) flays foreign trips by government officials

Visakhapatnam: Air Travellers Association (India) has found fault with the foreign jaunts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu stating they are costing heavily to government exchequer.

“The visit to Singapore, for example, by our frugal chief minister Naidu is costing heavily. When regular flights are available from Hyderabad to Singapore and back, engaging a special aircraft costs the exchequer a whopping Rs 80 lakh. Besides this, officers of the state government have travelled by regular scheduled flight. Their airfare assuming business class would touch Rs 8 lakh. Besides, their stay at star hotels is going to cost Rs 80 lakh,” pointed ATA (I) president D. Varada Reddy.

“At a time when the new state is reeling under financial deficit, and with the land acquisition for new capital proving to be additional burden, the lavishness with which the foreign jaunts are made, people will have to pay additional taxes,” he added.