House panels escape summer, PSUs sweat it out

For the committees, this is not unusual. Long-suffering PSUs produce a list of the committees’ favourite and usual destinations for holding ‘meetings’ — from Kumarakom and Kovalam to Goa, Port Blair and Gangtok.

But finally, the unrest is becoming official. For instance, following a visit of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language to Kolkata six months ago, the Ministry of Civil Aviation calculated the cost to the sponsors, Air-India, Indian Airlines and the Airports Authority of India. The total bill came to Rs 48 lakh — this included the stay of the MPs and support staff at the Taj Bengal, air-conditioned cars for each MP and the cost of food processors gifted to them. The file containing observations on the high cost of Parliamentary Committee tours went up to the then minister Shahnawaz Hussain, but never returned.

Five-star stay, expensive gifts, arrangements for cultural shows and sightseeing trips are routine for most such trips. While the ‘‘sponsor system’’ has been democratically divided, the problem gets worse when there is either an overlap of tours hosted by a single PSU or a rush of visits to one destination. Chief of an oil PSU listed how they were supposed to host or answer to seven different Parliamentary Committees including the Parliament’s House Committee and the Assurances Committee.

He says: ‘‘Whether it is Parliament picking up the tab for air tickets or PSUs paying for hotel stay, the fact is that crores of rupees are being spent annually on these trips. Some Committees like the House Committee can hold their meetings in Parliament Annexe.’’ Recently, some MPs on the committee set up to oversee functioning of the MPLADS made a tour pitch with the Planning Commission but were politely told there was no funds earmarked.

The fact that several Parliamentary Committees have split into sub-committees has added to the woes of the PSUs and banks. The Punjab and Sindh Bank (PSB), for instance, played co-host last month for a tour of a Parliamentary sub-committee on the automobile industry to Ludhiana and Amritsar and is working on the logistics for the tour of another sub-committee of the Standing Committee on Industries later this month to Shimla.

This bank is also playing co-host to one of the upcoming tours to Leh. Says a top official of the State Bank of India (SBI): ‘‘There is no doubt that tours of these committees are becoming more and more frequent. We now hear a committee is visiting the foreign branch of a bank.’’

Often, the VVIP tours impinge on the limited infrastructure of a State and some have begun voicing these concerns. Thus, when the June 20-30 tour of 15 MPs attached to the Standing Committee of Food and Civil Supplies to Chennai, Gangtok and Port Blair was being planned, the organisers received a jolt. ‘‘The Government of Andaman and Nicobar does not have sufficient funds to cater to the facilities extended to MPs for travel,’’ stated the letter dated June 3.

Officials say while other expenses are being borne by ‘‘nodal agencies’’ like the Food Corporation of India (FCI), another sponsor is being located to foot the travel bill.