HARD TIMES

Govt set to ban foreign travel of mins, officials

Austerity Measures Planned Till June 2021

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:29.04.2020

After freezing dearness allowance and suspending earned leave surrender facility, the state government is all set to tighten its purse strings further. In a few days, it is likely to ban air travel by government servants within the state. It could also ban travel of ministers and officials to foreign countries at government’s expense. Those who travel to other states by flight would not be permitted to use business class, the official said.

Sources in the finance department and personnel and administrative reforms department said savings through such measures would not be substantial to be compared with measures like freezing of DA hike. Nevertheless, such measures are required to bring down expenditure of the government, he said.

A major share of the travel of political executives and bureaucrats is within the state. Senior bureaucrats are deputed to different regions of the state during all calamities. Many senior IAS and IPS officials have been deputed to districts now to monitor the fight against Covid-19. They may have to return to Chennai either by road or by train once the order on austerity measures is issued.

The austerity measures, as of now, are being planned till June 2021. The government is hopeful that by then the state would be able to get back to normalcy.

A year ago, almost the entire state cabinet and many senior bureaucrats were on foreign tour as the state administration sought to attract foreign investment into Tamil Nadu. A few of them visited countries like Finland, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia to learn about best practices followed in those countries.

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami visited the UK, the USA and UAE and signed MoUs for attracting investments to Tamil Nadu. “The government should have thought about tightening of purse strings a year ago and avoided lavish expenditure when tax revenue was dwindling. But the ministers were never bothered about the economic condition. They happily enjoyed a paid holiday in several foreign countries. It is the tax payers’ money that went down the drain,” said a bureaucrat.