NO AUSTERITY FOR TRINAMOOL MP
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Austerity sham? MP stays in 5-star for 6 months
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 |  December 01, 2009 |  |
New Delhi: Months after ministers like Shashi Tharoor and SM Krishna were turfed out of five-star hotels, CNN-IBN's sister Hindi channel IBN7 has found that a UPA minister has spent the last six months at Delhi's Ashoka Hotel and everything - including his meals - have been at taxpayers' expense.
Tinamool Congress MP, Sultan Ahmed, who is also Minister of State Tourism, has been staying at the luxurious Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi from June 1, 2009.
IBN 7 has detailed documents which show that Ahmed has been staying in room number 1434 for the last six months.
The rate of the suite is more than Rs 20,000 per night.
Ahmed, by staying in a five-star hotel, is flouting norms set by his own Government which wants to cut costs as part of an austerity drive.
IBN 7 has learnt that the total expenditure incurred on Ahmed's stay is over Rs 35 lakh - and this is just accommodation.
Worse, he has not paid a single paisa for all expenditure incurred on food, beverages, laundry and all other expenses.
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Minister forced to be austere, leave 5-star hotel
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| December 01, 2009 | |
New Delhi: Union Minister of State Tourism and Trinamool Congress MP Sultan Ahmed on Wednesday moved out of Delhi's five-star luxury hotel Ashoka Hotel.
Ahmed moved out of the hotel less than 12 hours after CNN-IBN's sister channel IBN7 showed documentary proof of the Minister having cost the tax payer more than Rs 37 lakh for his stay in the five-star hotel.
"I have been misguided by the officials in my ministry. I was made to believe that being a Minister for Tourism the bills have to be footed by ITDC. I regret this has happened but it's not my fault. I am ready to foot the bill," said Ahmed.
After the expose, Trinamool Congress President and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked Ahmed to pay out for his nearly six-month long stay at the Ashoka Hotel.
Ahmed, who had been staying at the Ashoka Hotel from June 1, 2009, had spent the last six months at the Ashoka Hotel and everything - including his meals - had been at taxpayers' expense.
The MP from Uluberia in West Bengal had been staying in Room No. 1434 of the Hotel, flouting norms set by his own Government which has been trying to cut costs as part of an austerity drive.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/minister-forced-to-be-austere-leave-5star-hotel/106323-37.html?from=tn?from=rssfeedMamata accuses Tourism Ministry officials of misguiding Ahmed
NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress, which has asked its leader and Union minister Sultan Ahmed to pay up a bill of Rs 37 lakh for staying in the plush
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The party also said that it suspected the CPM, Left Front partners and "even some friendly parties" of being behind "efforts to defame" it.
Trinamool's Parliamentary Party, headed by railway minister Mamata Banerjee, met late last night and asked Ahmed to "rectify his mistakes".
It also asked Ahmed to vacate the five-star hotel accommodation with immediate effect, the party's Chief Whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay told PTI here.
Ahmed, the Minister of State for Tourism, has been staying in the Ashok for the past six months in the absence of a government house.
"It was brought to our knowledge that our party MoS, Sultan Ahmed, has run up a bill of Rs 37 lakh at the Ashok Hotel," he said, adding that Ahmed "has been asked to pay for all the extra expenses from his own pocket."
Bandopadhyay said, "We doubt that the CPI(M), the Left Front partners and even some friendly parties are behind this effort to defame our party".
He claimed Ahmed was a "new member and was asked by Tourism Ministry officials to move into Ashok Hotel. He was obviously misguided".
Bandopadhyay said his party "always favoured transparency" in public life and claimed "prompt action" was taken in this case as soon as the reports came in.
When contacted, Ahmed told PTI that before becoming a minister he had stayed in a room at ITDC-owned Samrat Hotel for about a month. After becoming a minister he moved into the Ashok and occupied two rooms.
Though he was allotted a ministerial bungalow, he could not move in as the CPWD could not ready it, Ahmed said.
He said the party has asked him to pay from his pocket the difference between the room rent at Samrat Hotel and that in Ashok Hotel and added that he was yet to receive the hotel bills.
UPA ministers' travel expenses: Rs 300cr in 3 yrs
NEW DELHI: Cabinet ministers in the previous UPA government ran up a bill of Rs 300 crore between 2006-09, the last three years of its term,
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The staggering figure, revealed in a reply to an RTI query by activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal, indicates the extent of spending by public representatives even as the country was sliding into an economic slowdown.
According to the cabinet secretariat, cabinet ministers - 30 in all in the UPA's first term - spent Rs 137 crore on foreign travel between fiscal 2006-07 and 2008-09 with highest in the year 2007-08 when more than Rs 115 crore was spent.
Incidentally, domestic travel too cost the public exchequer a pretty penny with the amount spent totalling Rs 163 crore. The expenditure incurred by them during 2008-09 was Rs 94.4 crore, which was 38% more than the cumulative expenditure incurred on domestic travel in the previous two years.
About Rs 127 crore was spent by central ministers in 2008-09, Rs 138.7 crore in 2007-08 and about Rs 82.3 crore during 2006-07 on their visits abroad as well as within the country.
The reply from cabinet secretariat did not give any further break-up of expenses in different heads as they are held by the Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) of different ministries.
"This office does not have any record of any individual minister as all the expenditure is booked under one respective head of account of all the ministers. As per existing rules... the details of each and every payment to the individual concerned by the DDO of that ministry," J L Khurana, senior accounts officer at the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UPA-ministers-travel-expenses-Rs-300cr-in-3-yrs/articleshow/5213054.cms
Anti-Sikh riots one of the most tragic events, says Pranab Mukherjee
NEW DELHI: Amid opposition demands for immediately bringing to book culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, government on Wednesday described the
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"Everyone among us feels ashamed that this happened... We cannot get back the lives we lost, we cannot remove the agony (of those affected) ... We can take a vow and draw a lesson that in future this does not happen," Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee said.
He was responding to Harsimrat Kaur (SAD) who raised the issue spiritedly during the Zero Hour, lamenting that 25 years after the ghastly incidents in which, she claimed, 7,000 Sikhs were killed, no one has been punished.
Mukherjee admitted that Kaur had brought back memories of "one of the most tragic events".
Kaur was supported by the entire opposition, led by Leader of Opposition L K Advani, following which Mukherjee assured them that he would speak to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other colleagues and see "what best can be done under the given situation".
She regretted that despite the Nanavati Commission recommending registration of cases against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others in 2005, no case was registered. "CBI has still not filed a single chargesheet."
Amid cries of 'shame, shame' from opposition benches, Kaur said so many commissions and committees have been appointed but no guilty has been brought to book so far.
Noting that this has happened despite 11 eye-witnesses giving statements before magistrates, she said "no community in our country should ever live by the fear of another community".
Kaur asserted that all communities had equal stake in the country and steps should be taken to "uphold secularism".
Advani suggested that government set up a small parliamentary committee to go into the issue for quick action, "leaving aside all old issues".
JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, along with leaders of Left parties, BSP, SP and BJD, also supported early action in the case.
Trinamool minister asked to pay bill, vacate five-star hotel
Ahmed, minister of state for tourism, has also been asked by party chief Mamata Bannerjee [ Images ] to foot the bill, a close aide of the Union Railway Minister said on Monday night.
According to the aide, Ahmed has been asked to vacate the hotel immediately and make the payment. It is learnt that the bill for staying in Ashoka Hotel for six months amounts to Rs 36 crore.
Though Ahmed, a first-time Member of Parliament, was allotted a ministerial bungalow, he could not move in as the Central Public Works Department could not ready it, the aide said.
When contacted, Ahmed told PTI that before becoming a minister he had stayed in a room at Indian Tourism Development Corporation-owned Samrat Hotel in New Delhi [ Images ] for about a month, and after becoming a minister he moved into the Ashoka Hotel and occupied two rooms.
He said the party has asked him to pay from his pocket the difference between the room rent at Samrat Hotel and that in Ashoka Hotel. Ahmed said he was yet to receive the hotel bill.
Delhi CM asks ministers, MLAs to practise austerity
Dikshit issued a letter to all ministers and Congress MLAs asking them to follow the decision of the Congress Working Committee and party president Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] in practising austerity. The letter by Dikshit came after she received an All India [ Images ] Congress Committee communication on Tuesday asking her to implement austerity measures outlined by the Congress Working Committee last month. In her letter she asked MLAs and ministers to receive 20 per cent less salary for at least next one year.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief J P Aggarwal said he has also asked ministers and party MLAs in the city to practice austerity and donate 20 per cent of their salary for drought relief. "I sent a letter to all the ministers and MLAs asking them to follow the footsteps of our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi [ Images ] in practising austerity," Aggarwal told PTI. "I told them that we must follow our leader Sonia Gandhi who set an example by travelling economy class to Mumbai [ Images ]. Rahul Gandhi also travelled to Ludhiana in a chair car seat in the Shatabdi Express to set an example," he said.
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/sep/16/sheila-dixit-asks-delhi-mlas-to-observe-austerity-measures.htm
Rahul recommends austerity for politicians
Joining the debate on austerity, All India [ Images ] Congress Committee General Secretary Rahul Gandhi [ Images ] on Thursday said politicians should be austere all the time -- a stark reminder to two the Union ministers who had to check out of five-star hotels in New Delhi [ Images ] a couple of days ago following an embarrassing media exposure.
"As a politician, you have a duty to be austere anyway," he said at a press conference in Chennai at the end of his three-day visit to Tamil Nadu.
"I generally tend to keep myself austere," pointing out to his white kurta-pyjama attire with a chuckle.
"I don't go through phases. So I don't think that you should have austerity measures in a phase and no measures in another phase... I don't really get interested in these kind of things," he said.
Image: Rahul Gandhi
Only business class for MP | |||
| SANJAY MANDAL | |||
Trinamul Congress minister Sultan Ahmed and his supporters created a furore at the airport on Monday morning to force Air India to upgrade his economy class ticket to Delhi, making a mockery of Mamata Banerjee's call for austerity. The Trinamul chief and another party MP and minister, Sisir Adhikary, flew to Delhi in the economy class in the afternoon. Ahmed, the Union minister of state for tourism, was booked in the economy class of AI 111 and was allotted a front row seat. "After arriving at the airport, the minister went to the Air India check-in counter and asked airline employees to upgrade his ticket. The employees were reluctant to upgrade the ticket but his aides, who had come to see him off, started to shout at them," said an airport official. The 10.30am take-off was already delayed as passengers and crew members reached the airport late because of the bandh. With Ahmed and his supporters adding to the chaos and the queue of passengers lengthening, Air India employees gave in and allotted the MP seat 1F in the business class. "As a Union minister I am entitled to travel business class. Where does Trinamul come in? It is a convention that if the economy class is full, the passengers are upgraded to the business class. The airline did the same for me and there was nothing wrong," Ahmed told Metro from Delhi. Airport sources, however, said there were only 90 passengers for the 140 economy class seats on the flight. The business class had 20 seats. "The minister was upgraded because he insisted," said a source. Air India had recently sent a circular asking employees not to oblige passengers who request an upgrade since the airline was facing a financial crunch. Mamata had said several times in rallies that she and her party MPs were on an austerity drive, as part of which they travelled economy class. Around 5pm on Monday, she and Adhikary took AI 201 to Delhi. They were allotted front row seats in the economy class. "Trinamul MPs generally travel economy class," said an Air India official. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is entitled to travel business class, also flies economy class. | |||
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New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) After a UPA minister was found staying in a five-star hotel here, the CPI today took a dig at the Centre's claim of undertaking austerity measure, saying there should "not be more than one standard".
"When there is a talk of austerity, Pranab Mukherjee says people should travel in economy class. Then there should be only one standard, there should not be more than one standard. It is more so if he is a minister," CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta told reporters here outside Parliament.
Minister of State for Tourism and Trinamool Congress leader Sultan Ahmed has been staying in the ITDC-run plush Ashoka Hotel for the last six months as his ministerial bungalow is not yet ready. It is learnt that Ahmed's hotel bill has run up to Rs 37 lakh till date.