Austerity fever catches up: Pranab leads, others follow

The austerity fever has started catching up, with a host of Union ministers today vowing to cut expenses on travel and other aspects related to their work, following the example set by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee, who is in the midst of a controversy over austerity measures imposed by his ministry, flew to Kolkata this morning by economy class of a budget airline. His office said he would return tomorrow by economy class on an Air India flight.

Jumping on the bandwagon of the austerity drive were a number of other ministers, including Vilasrao Deshmukh, Veerappa Moily, Anand Sharma, Sushilkumar Shinde, Praful Patel, Mamata Banerjee, Krishna Tirath, Jairam Ramesh and Dinesh Trivedi, who vowed to cut expenses on travel and other aspects related to their work.

Mukherjee might also cancel a visit to Cyprus for a Commonwealth Ministers' meeting to which he had planned to go by a special aircraft, sources close to him said. They said he would fly ordinary class if he flies abroad for a World Bank meeting in Turkey sometime later.

"It's nothing new to me. During elections and whenever I travel on commercial flights, I almost (always) travelled economy class. It's nothing new," Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata.   Tomorrow when Mukherjee flies back to Delhi he plans to take economy class seat in an Air India flight.

Perhaps answering criticism he was himself planning two foreign visits shortly in a special plane, sources in Mukherjee's office said the minister may be cancelling his visit to Cyprus.  If he flies to Turkey for a World Bank meeting he may fly economy class.

Mukherjee wondered "why all this fuss" about austerity. "Earlier, I used to travel in economy class during the full five years when I was a minister in P V Narasimha Rao's time. Because of my workload and other considerations the Prime Minister gave me a special Air Force aircraft when I was first in the Defence Ministry."

About MPs, he said decisions have to be taken by them voluntarily. Supporting Mukherjee, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said it is the duty of ministers to implement whatever decisions the government takes on austerity.

Mamata Banerjee, who is known for a spartan lifestyle, flies economy class and does not use special ministerial saloon when she travels by train. She has given instructions to the officials of the Railway Board and zonal railways to adopt austerity measures. She has also asked the six ministers of state from her party, Trinamool Congress, to do the same.

"We need not make virtue out of it. It has to come naturally," said Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi, who belongs to the Trinamool Congress. Welcoming the austerity directive, Praful Patel, Civil Aviation Minister, asked his officials to strictly follow the laid down norms.

Patel said he himself does not take salary from the government as a minister, a practice he has been following from the day he assumed office in the previous government in 2004. Most of the times, he also uses his personal car for travel in the capital.

Anand Sharma, Commerce Minister, also will be flying economy class on domestic visits. He has also postponed departure to Sweden by two days, apparently to cut down on expenses. He was to leave tomorrow but now will be departing on Tuesday.

Endorsing the decision of the Congress Working Committee(CWC) on austerity, Sharma said the leaders had to lead by example when the country was going through difficult times. Moily, Law Minister, said he would like to travel by a budget airlines whenever it is available.

Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath cancelled her visit to New York for a UNICEF conference and decided to travel only economy class. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said there were already guidelines governing MPs' expenditure while BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said government should take opposition into confidence and would get support if it is in financial difficulty.