For Punjab CM, austerity doesn’t begin in cockpit

Though exact figures aren’t made public, the journey — which cuts time on the road down by just half, to 22 minutes — takes place at an average of twice a week.

Amarinder’s justification: ‘‘My programme demands that time is not wasted. For example, I had to go to Amritsar, and my programme necessitated the use of the helicopter. It saved time. I also used the chopper to go to Patiala when one of my boys (Maj Sohal) died.’’

The chopper, wet-leased from Pawan Hans for Rs 5 crore annually, costs Rs 50,000 additional per flying hour. Sources at the Patiala Aviation Club say the Chief Minister has made about a dozen chopper trips from Chandigarh to Patiala in the two months since assuming power by chopper.

Pawan Hans is responsible for maintenance of the helicopter and arranges for pilots to fly the machine.

Interestingly, the Punjab Government has spent about Rs 24 crore on the leased helicopter over the past five years while a new helicopter costs about Rs 25 crore.

This, even as the government, facing a heavy debt, has slapped a complete ban on recruitment, introduced a contract system in service, banned LTC and foreign tours of ministers and officers, withdrawn ISD facilities to officers and cut back on security for the cabinet.

But, say his aides, the Chief Minister apparently has no plans to change his ways. ‘‘The chopper costs the earth but it is our majboori otherwise the loss of Chief Minister’s time will be a loss of the state. The CM has too many tasks to perform in the course of a single day, and time management becomes the key,’’ Amarinder’s political secretary Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi told The Indian Express.