Squandering of Government funds via railway tickets by former CPI(M) MP.

• The Government must recover the full amount from such former and current MPs. The Government should pass a law and withdraw these concessions.
• The Communist Party leaders preach socialism to all, but behave irresponsibly and waste Government funds.

New Delhi – The current and former MPs avail free railway travel. An incident of misuse of concession and waste of Government funds was reported. Former MP of CPI(M) in Bengal was involved in squandering Government funds. The identity of ex-MP has not been disclosed.

1. In January 2019, the former MP booked 63 railway tickets but used only seven for travel. The remaining tickets were not cancelled. Rajysabha Secretariat of the Parliament had to pay Rs.1,46,920 to the Railways. The cost of used tickets was only Rs.22,085. The Government had to pay for the non-cancelled tickets.
2. MPs with a spouse can travel, free of charge, in the AC First Class coach. One attendant with MP can travel, free of charge, in AC II coach.
3. In 2019-2020, current Rajya Sabha MPs booked railway tickets but did not utilise or cancel the same. Due to this irresponsible behaviour, the Government paid Rs.7.8 crore to the Railways.
4. Presently Rajya Sabha MPs used only 15% of the booked tickets. Balance 85% were not cancelled and thus wasted. The Government will have to pay for wasted tickets.
5. After these incidents, Rajya Sabha Secretariat secretary Deepak Varma issued a notice to all MPs. He instructed them that all MPs should cancel the tickets if they do not intend to travel. Defaulters will make payments themselves.
6. Invoices received from Railways revealed that a few MPs booked tickets for the same date on trains departing from different stations.
7.  Currently, Rajya Sabha Secretariat refused to pay for these tickets. The Secretariat instructed Railways to issue invoices only for actual travel. However, Railways quoted a rule and insisted on ‘payment of non-cancelled tickets.’