Governor's flight expenses: Govt allocates addtional Rs 30 lakh

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The finance department has allocated an additional Rs 30 lakh in addition to the budget allocation for the air travel expenses of Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. This comes after the exhaustion of the amount allocated for the governor's travel in the 2022-23 budget.

In the current financial year, the budget allocation for Governor's travel was Rs 11.8 lakh. According to the estimate of last July 26, only 1.15 lakhs is left of this, Raj Bhavan informed the government.

The governor's Principal Secretary wrote to the government on December 30 requesting to sanction the additional amount for air travel, but the Governor was at loggerheads with the government on that day and the decision on it was delayed. On January 9, the political wing of the public administration department handed over the file to the finance department. The Finance Expenditure Section examined the Governor's demand and forwarded the file to Finance Minister KN Balagopal, but the minister did not sign it. After the Governor came to the Legislative Assembly for the policy announcement speech and Saji Cheriyan was sworn in, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan instructed the Finance Minister to sanction the fund for the governor's air travel.

During the Republic Day banquet held at Raj Bhavan on January 26, the governor brought the release of additional funds to the attention of the chief minister. The Chief Minister has assured him that it will be allowed soon. After presenting the budget on March 3, the Finance Minister issued an order regarding this. On the 7th, the order was issued sanctioning the additional amount.

Governor's trips

• The governor's frequent trips are to Delhi and North Indian states. Most of these are for lectures in higher education institutions.
• The rule is that governors should not be away from the state for more than 5 days in a month. The Governor said that he got a concession from the President because of lectures.