Modi's foreign visits cost Rs 47 cr: RTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to 20 countries in one year has cost the exchequer at least Rs 47.42 crore.

Some of his spendings include: Rs 1,048 for buying and another Rs 451 for dry-cleaning his silk cloth pieces during his Mongolia visit besides a spending of Rs 60,027 on iPhone charge and gift-wraps in New York.  The details were collected by activist Commodore Lokesh Batra through an RTI application. The amount could rise as some bills are yet to be settled while Indian missions in France, Japan, Sri Lanka and South Korea are refusing to provide details citing various reasons like collection of “scattered” and “voluminous” details would require “disproportionate” allocation of resources.

 “While the benefits of Prime Minister’s frequent visits abroad will be known in time to come, the information I sought was supposed to be in public domain by now. Here transparency is the casualty,” Batra told Deccan Herald from the United States where he is on a visit.  One of the highest expenses incurred was in Australia where the whole trip cost around Rs 13 crore with hotel bills running into Rs 5.65 crore in Canberra and hiring of cars at Rs 2.48 crore.

 The least expense was in Bhutan, Modi's first destination after assuming power, at Rs 41.33 lakh.  During Modi’s New York visit, the Permanent Mission of India in New York Indian mission there spent Rs 6.13 crore with the Consulate General spending another Rs 91 lakh. The Indian Embassy in Washington did not provide details saying it was not readily available with them.

 The break up of expenditure by Permanent Mission showed that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was paid Rs 48,912 as DA during the visit. In this, Rs 18,342 was given for his extended stay in the US from October 1 to 3.  The room rent for the Prime Minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other members of the VIP delegation at New York Palace Hotel cost Rs 11.51 lakh.

In China, India spend around Rs 2.34 crore with hotel bills coming to Rs 1.06 crore and hiring of vehicles at Rs 60.88 lakh. For interpreters, the bill ran into Rs 24.26 lakh.
 Though most of the missions did not provide the nitty-gritty of the spending, a close reading of some of them showed interesting details.

 The Mongolian mission said they spend Rs 6,396 for “hiring a temporary photographer” while another Rs 76,154 was billed for “special dinner and drinks during VIP visit”. The Indian mission also paid Rs 12,876 as penalty for the leakage of fuel from IL-76.