Board members of MMRCL splurge on business class tickets worth Rs 14.50 lakhs

At a time when the state exchequer is gripped in a financial crisis and the CM and the Finance Minister is appealing for austerity measures to be followed the board directors of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) , the body which has been formed to spread a network of Metro Rail service has been found splurging on business class air travel. The cost of Rs 14.50 lakhs has been incurred on such expenses, as per the information provided to RTI Activist Anil Galgali by the MMRCL. RTI Activist Anil Galgali had sought information from the MMRCL about the expenses incurred on the meetings of the Board of Directors including the air travels and other expenses involved. The Public Information Officer and the Special Executive officer of MMRCL Mr P D Yerkutwar informed details of total 9 meetings , of which 4 meetings were held in Delhi and 5 in Mumbai. Out of 30 tickets, 24 tickets bought for meetings were of business class and remaining 6 of economy class. Out of the 24 tickets 3 trips each of Nitin Kareer and UPS Madan were borne by the state government, simultaneously the expenses pertaining to D K Jain was not available with MMRCL as informed. If we take a list of top 5 spendings it starts with Principal Secretary of Urban Development department Dr Nitin Kareer grossing Rs 74,269/- on a business class on 27th May 2016, followed by MMRDA Commissioner UPS Madan Rs 63,567/-, A A Bhat Rs 61,802/-, MMRCL MD Ashwini Bhide Rs 60,977/-, and Jhanja Tripathi Rs 60,531/-. # Incomplete information on expenses pertaining to Stay and Vehicles Incomplete information pertaining to expenses incurred on the stay and Vehicular traveling was provided by MMRCL. For the meeting held in Mumbai at the MMRDA headquarters on 6th December 2014 , expenses on stay of 4 officers were Rs 50,114/- , also expenses for stay of Mukundkumar Sinha was Rs 3048/- & Rs 2180/- and Madhusudan Prasad Rs 6097/-. The expenses incurred on the other 26 officers was not provided. Similarly the expenses incurred on vehicles for 8 officials was Rs 19,499/- . Information about the expenses on other 27 officers was not provided. In a view expressed by Anil Galgali, when the state is going through a bad phase in terms of finance, it is the need of the hour to not indulge in waste full expenses and it was necessary for the IAS officers to exhibit concern and not indulge in splurging by spending on business class tickets. The meetings can nowadays be held through video conferencing as well, also as these meetings are pre planned the travel can be done by train as well, claimed Galgali in a letter addressed to the CM Devendra Fadnavis, he further demanded that the CM issues instructions to the gazetted officers to exercise control on spendings and issue limits on them.