New Delhi: The department of civil aviation of Punjab said on Sunday that the department received bills amounting to Rs 44,85,967 for the aircraft hired for the visit of CM Bhagwant Mann to Gujarat from April 1 to 3. The information was provided by the Public Information Officer in response to an RTI query, news agency ANI reported.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann visited Gujarat from April 1 to 3 with Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal to attend the virtual launch of the AAP’s campaign in the poll-bound state. Assembly elections in Gujarat are due in December.
According to a report by the Times of India, the RTI was filed by a Bathinda resident Harmilap Singh Grewal, who sought the details of the CMs’ visit to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The civil aviation department said that they received bills for Rs 44,85,967 for the helicopter hired for CM Mann’s visit.
Mann had visited Himachal Pradesh on April 6 and the individual cost of the visit was not incurred in the RTI response.
“Before coming to power, Mann would ridicule then chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi for his helicopter use within Punjab, but now he is hiring a private jet for visits to other states. His visit to Gujarat and Himachal were purely for the purpose of campaigning for the party and had nothing to do with the functioning of the state government or for the benefit of Punjab,” Grewal was quoted as saying by TOI.
Grewal was a member of AAP earlier but quit the party in this election to join Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.