Sharing info on expenses incurred on Obama visit is sensitive : MEA

Recently the US President Barack Obama had come visiting India with a large contingent of dignitaries. RTI Activist Anil Galgali had sought information from the Ministry of External Affairs about the expenses incurred on the 3 day Obama visit, which was refused citing the infomation as sensitive and also it could have a bearing of the future bilateral relations with foreign states. MEA informed Galgali that the information was confidential and hence the query was rejected. RTI Activist Anil Galgali had filed an RTI query seeking details of all types of expenses incurred on the 3 day visit of the US President Barack Obama. In a reply to the query the Dy Chief Protocol Officer, Shri Rohit Rathish, of the MEA informed Galgali that, Every year the Indian Government hosts dignitaries of various foreign countries. In these visits,  the type of delegations, Reasons for the visits, Categorization, Organisation, how is that visit hosted, how much has been accepted, How many Cities does the delegation visits are different from each other and also it would not be wrong to say that every visit of a foreign delegation is unique. In such a condition the expenses incurred by the Govt on each and every visit varies and also it is sensitive for the govt. Also getting such sensitive information may negatively effect the bilateral relations with those foreign countries. Shri Rathish further informed Galgali that, the information sought is sensitive in nature and also could negatively impact the relations with other countries. Hence on the reasons stated and to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information's as per established norms of the section 8(1)(c) of the RTI Act 2005, any process to seek information on such nature comes under the relevant section, which can hamper cordial relations in dealing with foreign affairs. RTI Activist Anil Galgali has expressed astonishment at the claim of the MEA and has questioned the motive of non revelation of the expenses incurred, he also stated that its a matter of research how revealing expenses incurred on the visit of any dignitary could hamper our foreign relations? Galgali further said the the Modi Govt, which revels in claiming transparency in its governance is actually trying to conceal the expenses running into crores of rupees by raising a bogey of sensitivity and confidentiality. Galgali said that, the govt should themselves inform every citizen on its own the various expenses they incur as the same are made from the collections from the hard earned incomes of the tax payers of the country.