MoD ferries staff to work,pays them TA too

The MoDs generosity which came by way of an order dated April 20,2009 allowing payment of TA to PXE employees is set to bleed the exchequer to the tune of Rs 36 lakh a year. The benefit will be given with retrospective effect from September 1,2008. The remaining 200 employees,who do not get TA as of now,are expected to get the benefit shortly.

The Department of Expenditure of the Ministry of Finance in its office memorandum dated August 29,2008 (a copy of which is available with The Indian Express) clearly stated that TA would not be provided to those who are provided with the facility of government transport.

Soon after the issuance of that memorandum,PXE higher-ups issued a circular dated April 29,2009 (a copy of which is with The Indian Express) that allowed grant of TA,varying between Rs 400-Rs 1,600 per month,plus the prevalent Dearness Allowance.

A Class-III staff of PXE,who,otherwise,gets a monthly salary of over Rs 26,000,gets Rs 970 as TA even as he avails the office transport. Each employee,however,pays a nominal sum of Rs 50-200 per month to use the office transport.

PXE Director Major General N K Malhotra denied there was anything wrong in this,saying that the employees were being given TA earlier also. It all depends on how one interprets it, he said over phone from Balasore.

DRDO sources said for the past 10 years,the MoD has been giving TA at the rate of Rs 100-400 month to those PXE employees who were not using the office transport. But the latest order seems illogical as it is nothing but wasteful expenditure of taxpayers money, the source said. If employees using office transport are eligible for TA,then house rent allowance should be paid to those who stay in government accommodations, he argued.

Integrated Test Range,another DRDO unit at Chandipur which deals with testing of ballistic missiles like Prithvi and Agni ,has also reportedly submitted a request to grant TA to its employees using official transport.