Chautala discovers austerity, cuts off ISD for ministers, babu

Several ministers and bureaucrats were allegedly misusing the facility. For instance, one minister of state had presented a telephone bill for Rs 32,800 for international calls made during a two-month period last year.

“This is the first time the government has distinguished between ISD and STD facilities. The facility should not have been withdrawn just because some people were misusing it to talk to their sons and daughters. This way they will have to withdraw cars, staff and just about everything,” carped an officer.

Just last year, the Chautala government had doubled the ceiling on the bi-monthly local calls permitted to the Speaker, ministers, Deputy Speaker, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Leader of Opposition and some others on their residential phones. The number of local calls was doubled to 40,000 per billing cycle (bi-monthly) last November. The government had also waived the maximum limit of 10,000 local calls imposed on ministers and others for 12 years from September 16, 1987 to February 4, 1999. Not surprisingly, the Chief Minister and some of his colleagues were the biggest beneficiaries of the relaxation.