Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was not in the State for 328 out of the past 1,095 days. He also topped the list of governors with the most air travel while in office, the State General Administration Department has revealed.
The Raj Bhavan had been reluctant to share the information even under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, but the State department shared the details of the governor's travels between July 29, 2021, and January 1, 2024. Khan took over as the governor of Kerala in September 2019.
The State ministers had recently come out against the governor's frequent travels outside the State. It was also alleged that the government has to shell out 20 percent more of the Budget allotted for his trips.
Khan travelled mostly to Uttar Pradesh, his home State via Delhi or Mangaluru. He had also frequented Mumbai and Chennai. His other destinations were Gujarat, Telangana, Haryana, Assam, Goa, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand.
The Raj Bhavan has been mandated to inform the State government of the governor's trips outside the state. The information on Khan's travels revealed by the General Administration Department was based on the Raj Bhavan's such alerts to the government.
