MRVC spent Rs. 3 crore on foreign tours – RTI reply
16 May, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details of expenditure incurred by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) on sending its officials on foreign tours.
According to the reply, the railway body sent a total of 121 officials on foreign tours during the period from 2003 to 2013. The purpose of the trips was mostly for studying commercial development of railway land and airspace, technical training, project management and material inspection. The locations for the tours included United Kingdom, China, Japan, Germany, New York, Switzerland, and Malaysia.
The reply states that the public sector undertaking spent nearly Rs. 3 crores on official foreign tours in past ten years. On an average, the MRVC spent Rs. 2.4 lakhs on each foreign trip undertaken by an official. The reply also stated that the expenditure on foreign trips is in general on an increase – reaching Rs. 38.18 lakh in 2012-13 from Rs. 9.97 lakh in 2003-04.
The RTI applicant alleged that the railway corporation has neglected the government of India’s guidelines of 2009 which states that technology like video conferencing should be given preference over personal visits to foreign countries.