Governor Had Flown to His Hometown

virement issued warnings to three officers in August 2019) for seeking a clarification. from the office of Governor Ganeshi Lal regarding Rs 46 lakh flight bills incurred for the governor according to in- formation obtained using the RTI Act. The amount was spent when the governor visited his hometown, Sirsa in Haryana, in June 2018, officials' sources said.

In response to a query by RTI activist Pradip Pradhan, the commerce and transport department replied on Thursday that the general ad- ministration department had sought explanation from additional secretary Pradeep Kumar Biswal (an IAS off car), deputy secretary Indira Behera (an OAS officer) and undersecretary Pravinjay Dalel for negligence in go virement duties in connection with the letter to the go- Vernor's office. After their ex-plantations, the officers were warned to be careful in the future, the reply said.

Days after taking over as Odisha governor, the governor on June 10, 2018, flew from Bhubaneswar to New Delhi by a special Jet aircraft (Lega cy 650) and from there to Sirsa by a helicopter the same day. He returned to Bhubaneswar by the same aircraft on June 13. The total expenses amounted to Rs 46.18 lakh, including Rs 41.18 lakh for the aircraft and Rs 5 lakh for the chopper.

Indira had written to the governor's special secretary in July 2018 seeking "the rea- son and circumstances for hi ring of a helicopter for use of Hon'ble Governor and deviation in the approved schedule of the flight" and "whether approval of the competent authority has been taken".

The letter had then resulted in political blame game with BJP attacking the Naveen Patnaik government for "denigrating" the constitutional office of the governor.

Then chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi had regret ted the government's letter to the governor's office and had said stringent action would be taken against those re- sponsible for the miscommunication.

According to Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules, 1987, Rule 11, sub-rule 8(b) a governor is entitled to travel on private business. twice in a year (with spouse or another person) by air to any part of India and such travel shall be deemed to be travel on duty.