Stop last minute flight booking by MPs, Vice President urged

Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar has urged Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to examine and stop the last minute booking of air tickets by parliamentarians as it was costing parliament and tax payers more than envisaged.

The 53-year old leader also has suggested changes in rules and procedures for reimbursement/payments, prohibiting buying tickets at high prices.

"I write regarding recent media reports that some members of parliament claim huge amount of TA/DA by booking air tickets at surge pricing because of last minute booking. I believe that this practice should be examined forthwith and stopped. This is clearly costing parliament and taxpayers more than envisaged and also creates a legitimate concern of abuse and misuse," said Chandrasekhar in a letter to Naidu.

The letter, whose copies were also sent to Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley and Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, reads that since all parliament sessions and the committee meetings are announced well in time, there is no reason that tickets should be bought at such high prices at the last minute.

"I suggest that the rules and procedures for reimbursement/payments needs to be changed, perhaps prohibiting buying tickets at high prices making this general practice and buying high priced tickets as exception to the rule -- capping that at perhaps 2 or 3 exceptions a year," said Chandrasekhar.

According to him, another approach could be to cap TA/DA entitlements.

--IANS

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