Even as the Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana has drawn a lot of flak for the foreign tours undertaken by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, their love for “foreign excursions” has apparently not faded away.
After Chief Minister Manohar lal and Cabinet Minister OP Dhankar’s foreign tour this year, other Cabinet Ministers are also embarking on ‘study and observation tours’ to foreign countries spending millions of rupees of the taxpayers’ money.
While Haryana Urban local Bodies Minister, Kavita Jain had returned earlier this week from her tour to Poland and Kazakhstan to study techniques related to waste management, another Minister Karan Dev Kamboj chose to fly abroad on a study tour.
In the first half of their Government’s tenure, the Chief Minister and his Cabinet Ministers have undertaken a number of foreign tours. Interestingly, the Ministers concerned are accompanied by MlAs of ruling BJP during the said study tours overseas which also include activities like sightseeing.
Such foreign tours are in direct contravention of BJP-led Haryana Government’s directive that public funds must not be misused. The Chief Minister had recently stressed the need to curtail wasteful expenditure and increase the State’s own revenue rather than raising debts from other sources.
With State’s debt liability already crossing Rs 1 lakh crore, Manohar lal had earlier this month ordered constitution of a committee under Chief Secretary to find ways to curtail wasteful expenditure and to bring down revenue expenditure in the state. However, the State Government has continued giving a go-ahead to its Ministers to lead State delegations to foreign tours, costing millions of rupees to the State exchequer in the past two years.
Sources said one more Cabinet Minister is likely to leave for a foreign tour soon.
Unfazed by the criticism of opposition, the Chief Minister has himself undertaken three foreign tours to different nations during first half of his five years tenure in Haryana.
Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips, the Chief Minister has also kept his tours highly packed too. To attract investments for the State, Manohar lal has so far visited USA, Canada, Japan, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
In the past, senior Cabinet Ministers Ram Bilas Sharma, OP Dhankar, Anil Vij, Capt. Abhimanyu, Vipul Goel among others had also undertaken foreign visits on Government’s expenses.
At present, the Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Kamboj, is in South Africa along with BJP MlAs and senior bureaucrats, and has also visited Mauritius to study latest techniques for storage and preservation of various commodities. On this foreign tour, Kamboj is accompanied by chairman Hafed and BJP MlA Harvinder Kalyan and MlA Bhagwan Das Kabirpanthi besides officers from Food and Civil Supplies Department.
The Cabinet Minister Kavita Jain, who was accompanied by her husband State BJP media in-charge, Rajiv Jain and senior IAS officers on a study tour to Poland and Kazakhstan had returned the country on Monday and described her visit as “productive” to address the challenges related to solid and liquid waste management. Kavita was also accompanied by her husband during the visit to UK last year.
Meanwhile, the opposition-Congress and INlD-has accused the ruling BJP of squandering public money on foreign trips at a time when the State is witnessing complete breakdown of law and order and all sections of society including farmers, traders are suffering due to BJP’s policies.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and leader of Opposition and INlD’s senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala have lashed out at the BJP-led Haryana Government for allowing the Ministers to undertake foreign trips and misusing public funds.
INlD Haryana president Ashok Arora has said the BJP Ministers and MlAs were not at all concerned about the problems of the State and busy in sightseeing and foreign tours. These tours were not held for study purposes but for sightseeing, said Arora.
“The State has not been benefitted so far due to the foreign visits of Chief Minister and his Cabinet Ministers. After his three foreign tours, the Chief Minister had made big claims related to investments but Haryana has seen nothing during the past more than two and a half years tenure of BJP Government,” he added.
Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar has also termed the foreign tours undertaken by the ministers as a waste of taxpayers’ money.