Rlys didn’t want you to know: spent Rs 20 lakh on 2 visits by US students

Between December 2006 and May 2007, the Indian Railways rolled out red carpet worth Rs 20.38 lakh for students from Harvard Business School, Wharton, MIT Sloan School of Management and the US-based Industrial College of Armed Forces, playing host for Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to narrate his turnaround story.

In response to a Right to Information query filed by The Sunday Express, the Railways Ministry first declined to give this information citing Clause 8, sub-clause (1) (j) of the RTI Act, 2005 which relates to “personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual…” It was only after The Sunday Express filed an appeal against that reply that the Railways finally released these figures.

Of this amount, Rs 7.17 lakh was spent on “tentage etc” when the Railways hosted students from MIT Sloan School of Management. Another Rs 4.12 lakh was spent on arranging tea, coffee and lunch for this group. As for the group from Harvard and Wharton, the bill included expenses worth Rs 4.20 lakh on “provision of infrastructure, front gate, tentage and decoration etc” and another Rs 4.29 lakh for tea/coffee and lunch.

Both these programmes were held at the National Rail Museum. For the Industrial College of Armed Forces team, the Railways spent Rs 21,600 on renting tables and chairs and Rs 16,900 on beverages and lunch. This function was held in Rail Bhavan and hence no “tentage.”