Thiruvananthapuram: Amid the financial crunch, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and ministers received a total of Rs 3.17 crore as travel allowance in the financial year of 2022-23. Reportedly the finance department has sanctioned the additional fund when only Rs 2.5 crore was earmarked in the annual budget.
The finance department issued an order granting an additional amount of Rs 20 lakh as ministers' travel allowance a day before the submission of the bills at the treasury.
Usually, the annual budget will allot an amount to the cabinet as 'travel allowance'. If they spent more amount on travel, the finance department sanctions the additional funds.
In the budget 2022-23, the government allocated a fund of Rs 2.5 crore as travel allowance. When the limit of this fund was exceeded, the finance department sanctioned an additional provision of Rs 88.59 lakh to release more funds. With this, the amount reserved for travel allowance touched Rs 3.38 crore. The finance department issued an order regarding this on March 27. The last date for submitting the bills was March 28.
Sources said the finance department did not complete the fund distribution as the bills are still pending. Hence, it is confirmed that the state cabinet had spent Rs 3.17 crore on travel allowance. Though the finance department is empowered to grant additional funds over the budgetary requirements, priority should be given to the importance and the nature of the emergency.
