The Madhya Pradesh government, under Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, has spent over Rs 32.85 crore in less than a year after coming to power.
The air travel has averaged at Rs 9.25 lakh a day, leading to a political row in the state over the extravagance.
The Madhya Pradesh government, in response to questions raised by Congress MLA Pratap Grewal, has told the state assembly that CM Mohan Yadav, his cabinet and senior officials made 666 air trips using both government and private aircraft, according to a report in NDTV.
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Of that total 666 trips, 428 were made on rented aircraft, while 238 were made on government-owned planes and helicopters.
The use of private planes, used for 222 trips, counted for Rs 36.39 crore, while private helicopters were used for 97 trips.
The report quoting aviation department officials clarified that private aircraft are hired when government planes are unavailable.
It also stated that the private aircraft was used by the chief minister in majority of the cases, nearly 90 per cent, while it was hired for ministers and senior officials in the remaining cases.
Mohan Yadav's predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also a 'frequent flyer', making 1,639 trips between April 2020 to March 2023, spending Rs 4 lakh an hour from the government coffers. During Shivraj's rule, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh spent around Rs 37 crore on air travel.
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The report added that the reliance on the rented aircraft began after Madhya Pradesh government's C-90 plane crashed at Gwalior Airport in May 2021 during a Remdesivir delivery mission. Since then, the state government has hired private aircraft on a regular basis and plans to continue until the new Challenger 3500 jet, worth Rs 234 crore, will be delivered to the government in 2026.