PM asks ministers to cut foreign jaunts when Parliament is in session

Taking exception to ministers wanting to travel out of the country when the Parliament session is on, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has once again cautioned Cabinet colleagues against making travel plans abroad unless absolutely necessary.

Singh?s advisory comes after tourism minister Selja took off last Sunday on a week-long official tour to Tehran and South Africa. She is among three other ministers who will miss the Railway and General Budgets that will be presented by the government this week.

The other two ministers who will miss the Budget in Parliament are overseas minister Vyalar Ravi, currently recuperating in Chennai following a car accident in Africa recently, and minister of state for petroleum Jitin Prasada, who has proceeded on a honeymoon following his marriage recently.

?Visits of all ministers now stand cancelled because of the Budget Session, except for the Prime Minister and the external affairs minister,? parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said on Tuesday. ?I myself was scheduled to go on a foreign tour, but have cancelled it now,? he added. The Prime Minister is traveling to Saudi Arabia on a three-day visit beginning February 27.

Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the Prime Minister?s Office, however, maintained that circulars by the Prime Minister advising ministers against traveling abroad when Parliament was in session were not new and had been issued in the past.

Foreign travel by ministers became a controversy during the last UPA regime when RTI applications filed revealed that 71 out of 78 UPA ministers had made 786 foreign trips in a span of three and a half years, traveling over 1 crore kilometers. In early 2008, Prime Minister Singh was even forced to issue advisories dissuading foreign travel by ministers and government officials in the wake of austerity measures announced by the government. Several ministers then cancelled their visits abroad, with the exception being Prime Minister and the external affairs minister.

However, it was the Prime Minister himself who came under attack from the BJP during the last winter session for traveling while Parliament was in session. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj had then said that it would be better if the Prime Minister?s visits were planned keeping parliamentary schedules in mind.