RTI: Govt didn’t incur expenditure on Krishna,Tharoor’s stay at hotels

The ministry said the ministers were required to make personal arrangements for their stay as the allotment of official accommodation and essential repair or renovation to make them habitable normally takes time.

However,it did not give the details of amount paid by both the Union ministers to the hotels against their bills.

Advocate Vivek Garg filed an application seeking the details of expenditure and duration of stay of the two ministers.

Garg has also asked the ministry to provide the details of expenditure borne by the ministers along with their sources of income which was denied.

“This Ministry has no further information to provide,” said P Sen Vyas,Appellate Authority,Ministry of External Affairs.

“Both ministers have spent lakhs in paying the bills. I will file an appeal with the Central Information Commission seeking details of the amount. People have every right to know about the hefty expenditure made by their leaders,” Garg said.

Krishna’s stay at Maurya Sheraton and Thraoor’s at Taj Mansingh hotels have grabbed headlines recently which was claimed to be a snub to the UPA’s much-hyped austerity drive.

“Krishna stayed at Hotel Maurya Sheraton after he was sworn in as the Minister of External Affairs. He moved into the guest room of the Foreign Service Institute at Baba Gangnath Marg on September 8,2009 and has been staying there since then,” the reply said.

Whereas,”Tharoor was staying at Hotel Taj Mansingh after he was sworn in as Minister of State for External Affairs till September 1,2009 when he departed Delhi. On return to Delhi on September 8,2009,he moved into Kota House,Naval Guest House and has been staying there since then,” it said.