|
STATES:
ORISSA
Luxury
Travail
Bitten
by wanderlust, assembly committees of the penurious state are going on
meaningless junkets at the taxpayer's expense
By
Ruben Banerjee
The
first-time legislator from Orissa's god-forsaken interiors was proudly
narrating how hectic the last 15 days had been. The 12-member Public Undertakings
Committee of the Orissa Assembly was on a study tour of other states and
the legislator was in the midst of the jet-setting action. The MLAs first
landed in Chennai, then flew to Madurai, from where they drove to Kanyakumari,
before rushing to Thiruvananthapuram to catch a flight to Chennai. From
there, the MLAs took a flight to Port Blair in the Andamans. Next halt
was Calcutta before returning to Bhubaneswar.
 A
punishing schedule indeed, but the one taking the beating was the state
exchequer. For the junket served little purpose other than to drain the
state coffers of its meagre resources. Besides travelling from one exotic
locale to another, the MLAs had little to show in terms of business apart
from mounting expenses.
Yet to recover
from the financial fallout of last year's super cyclone, Orissa is on
the brink of bankruptcy with a budget deficit of over Rs 2,000 crore.
A crippling drought has made matters worse. But there seems to be enough
money for MLAs to splurge on "pleasure trips". Since September-the
onset of the tourist season-various assembly committees have been bitten
by the travel bug. So far, 66 of the 147 Orissa legislators have already
gone around selected hill stations and seaside resorts around the country,
all in the name of keeping themselves abreast of developments in other
parts of the country. If the remaining haven't travelled yet, it is only
because their plans are still being finalised.
The Orissa
Assembly is loathe to share its tour schedules. But India Today found
that members of four of the Assembly's 14 statutory committees have already
travelled far and wide this season. Members of four others are in the
process of firming up their itineraries so that they can undertake their
tours before the year it out. If the past is anything to go by, the rest
of the MLAs would not be left behind.
The trips
have already cost the exchequer a tidy sum. The Library Committee has
spent Rs 7.8 lakh on air fare alone. The Estimates Committee bought air
tickets worth Rs 2.48 lakh while the Public Undertakings Committee spent
Rs 2.94 lakh. There are other hidden costs as well: every MLA gets Rs
400 as daily allowance during the tour. So the 10-day tour of the 30 MLAs
of the Library Committee cost the state Rs 1.2 lakh under this head alone.
There is also the money spent on road travel. Taxi, bus and fuel bills
of the Librarians' peregrinations could have been in excess of Rs 50,000.
The exact details will, of course, be known only after the weary legislators
recover from jet lag and furnish their bills. What is, however, known
is these were nothing more than pleasure trips in the garb of study tours.
That simple
pleasure is foremost in the legislators' minds is borne out by the choice
of destinations. Call it coincidence, but on every study tour the MLAs
find themselves in tourist spots. The SC and ST Committee decided to study
the status of SCs and STs elsewhere and therefore travelled to Delhi,
Shimla, Kulu, Manali, Dehradun, Badrinath and Rishikesh. The Library Committee
toured Madurai, Kodaikanal and Port Blair though there are hardly any
reputed libraries in those places.
The various
public undertakings in Orissa are in the red and can barely pay salaries.
So the Public Undertakings Committee landed up in the Andamans to "study"
the problem and evolve a solution. The Estimates Committee, responsible
for suggesting ways to make the administration economical and efficient,
was equally profligate. Its members flew to Chennai, Madurai, Bangalore,
Mysore, Goa and Panaji before returning via Delhi. "Our predecessors
too went on such junkets and so do legislators of other states. So why
can't we?" retorts an MLA who has just returned from a trip to Goa.
Other MLAs
claim that the tours help them gain insight and a broader perspective.
"The trip to Port Blair took the MLAs to the infamous Cellular Jail
and made them aware of the country's freedom struggle," explains
a senior MLA.
But apart
from history lessons, there is little of benefit for the state itself.
Some years ago, the Amenities Committee-which looks after amenities for
legislators-toured four states to examine how to improve the facilities
for MLAs. After returning from the tour it formed a subcommittee which
undertook some more tours. After the odyssey was through, the two committees
made a significant recommendation: provide two more bulbs in the living
quarters of the MLAs.
To what
extent the additional bulbs lighted up the lives of the legislators is
not known. But government-sponsored junkets in such hard times reveal
the darker side of democracy.
Top
|
METRO TODAY
Ayodhya
is an issue that is pre-determined. And it matters little in the present
fuss that the foremost casualty is the truth, writes INDIA TODAY Deputy
Editor Swapan Dasgupta in 