Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s plan to hire a chartered plane for his nine-day China tour at a cost of Rs20 million (Dh1.1 million) has kicked a big controversy with almost all the opposition parties taking strong objection to the profligacy.
KCR, who will be leaving for China on September 8 to woo investors, has decided to take a chartered aircraft from a private airlines for his journey evoking shock and disbelief as the state was presently passing through a difficult phase with severe drought.
The state government has already issued a formal go-ahead in this regard and accorded administrative sanction for an amount of Rs20.28 million to Telangana State Aviation Corporation Ltd as an advance to hire CRJ 100 aircraft from AR Airways Private Ltd.
The decision to issue the advance payment on the request of the Chief Minister’s office was taken after the airways gave a quotation and terms and conditions for the tour of the chief minister and his delegation to China and other countries from September 8 to 16.
The chief minister is scheduled to attend a World Economic Forum meeting at Dalian in China.
All the opposition parties have roundly criticised the chief minister for preferring a chartered aircraft over the regular flights and said that the state can ill-afford this wasteful expenditure.
Coming down heavily on the state government, state Congress spokesperson D Sravan Kumar said that there was no reason for the chief minister to hire a private aircraft for a foreign visit.
“On the one hand, the state government says there was no money to reimburse students fee and hostel scholarship and pay for the mess charges of the students and on the other hand it was spending such a huge amount on foreign tour”, he said.
“The chief minister is a custodian of public money and he is supposed to spend it in a prudent manner”, he said.
Another senior Congress leader Mohammad Ali Shabbir, leader of opposition in Legislative Council said that such a step was more unfortunate given the fact that distressed farmers were committing suicide.
The state BJP also strongly opposed the lavish expenditure by the chief minister. “If the chief minister hires an aircraft for travel within the state, it could be understandable”, said the party MLC Ramachandra Rao. “But chartering a plane to travel abroad is too much”, he said urging the chief minister to desist from it.
Another opposition party Telugu Desam also decried the waste of public money. The party leader R Chandrasekhar Reddy said that such a lavish spending on a foreign tour was more unfortunate given the fact that Telangana had recorded the highest number of farmers’ suicide in the country and was passing through a difficult financial situation.
