NEW DELHI, SEPT 28: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has rapped his stubborn ministers for their profligacy with a second reminder for ``fiscal prudence and austerity''.Barely six months after his last letter laying down rules for an austerity drive, Vajpayee sent out another one on September 23 repeating the instructions.Clearly, the first missive had little or no effect and the PM hints at this by recalling that he was re-emphasising the points contained in his letter of February 28.The latest communication from the PM seems to carry a note of urgency which economic experts attribute to the spiralling fiscal deficit, partly a result of the high international prices of oil.But it also contains an exasperated tone, particularly over the way some ministers have been bleeding the PSUs under their control. In fact, the letter comes on the heels of reports reaching the PMO about lavish renovation and hospitality expenditure by some ministers, the cost of which has been borne by their PSUs.The PM dwells at length on this in his letter by stressing that ministers should not circumvent prescribed expenditure limits by tapping Public Sector Undertakings to ``provide facilities which are otherwise not admissible''. In other words, offices and residences should not be lavishly refurbished at PSU expense. Nor should PSUs be asked to provide cars and telephones for ministers.Similarly, ministers should not bloat their personal offices with excess staff ``borrowed'' from PSUs, he has said. The PM has also asked his ministers to cut down on foreign junkets and only take those trips which are ``absolutely unavoidable''.``Ministers need to set an example to others by practising austerity in their official lives,'' the letter stresses.
