Pratibha Patil spent Rs 140 cr in air travel expenses as President

NEW DELHI: While it is no secret that former President Pratibha Patil set new records with her incessant travel, RTI records have revealed another dubious first. Patil travelled twice as many times as the PM and vice-president over the last three years spending over Rs 140 crore in air travel expenses alone.

According to data given by Air Force in response to an RTI filed by activist Subhash Agrawal, IAF's special aircraft conducted 466 'sorties' between 2008 and 2011. Patil was the most frequent flyer using IAF planes 255 times as compared to PM Manmohan Singh (108) and vice-president Hamid Ansari (106).

The special planes that were acquired between August, 2008 and January, 2009, have cost the exchequer $161,425,567. The three Business Boeing Jets are equipped with advanced self-protection suites, encrypted satellite communication facilities and advanced navigational aids. IAF said the former president visited 18 countries in 10 trips from November, 2008, to October, 2011. The rest of the sorties were domestic trips.

There is some variance in records with RTI responses from the MEA had pegged the cost of Patil's travel to Rs 205 crore of which Rs 169 crore was incurred by Air India, while the rest included local travel, accommodation and daily allowance.

The destinations included Vietnam, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, England, Cyprus, China, Laos, Cambodia, the UAE, Syria, Mauritius, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Switzerland and Austria.

Her predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam undertook seven trips to 17 countries during his five-year tenure. While, K R Narayanan covered 10 countries in six trips and S D Sharma covered 16 nations in four trips.