Puducherry IAS officers Rs 17 lakh flight expenses for 15 months: Complaint to Governor, Central Home

Puducherry: A complaint has been lodged with the Governor and the Central Home Office to avoid unnecessary air travel as the 15-month flight cost of IAS officers in Puducherry is Rs.17 lakh.

As more than 25 IAS officers were working in Puducherry, which is a very small union territory, they have been continuously complaining to the Central Ministry of Home Affairs that they are incurring additional expenses due to salary, vehicle, residential maintenance etc.

In this case, there were reports that the IAS officers continued to travel by air.

Subsequently, Rajiv Gandhi Human Rights Awareness Organization President Raghupathi filed a petition through RTI regarding the air travel of IAS officers. According to the information received in it, he said about the complaint made to the Governor and the Central Home Office.

“On knowing that the IAS officers have been traveling by air frequently without necessity, as per the information provided by them through RTI, they have informed that 16,77,750/- lakh rupees have been spent on air travel only during the 15 month period from 16.06.2021 to 24.09.2022.

At present, when all office correspondence is done through e-paper and e-mail, and seminars and advisory meetings are mostly conducted through video conferencing, why do they need to spend so many lakhs of rupees and travel by air?

Also, when an officer as a special commissioner and a legislator as a special representative of Delhi have been appointed on behalf of the Puducherry government to carry out all the work related to the Puducherry government in New Delhi, for what work and to whom did they fly to meet? Especially since most of the IAS officers in Puducherry are from northern states, the suspicion is getting stronger that they are traveling to their hometowns for office work. Therefore, considering the financial condition of the Puducherry government, I have submitted a petition to the Governor and Union Home Secretary that they should take appropriate measures to avoid unnecessary flights by IAS officers,” he said.