The National Assembly was told on Wednesday that the expenses incurred by Federal and State Ministers on foreign trips, during last three years amounted to Rs 51.66 million approximately.
Minister Incharge of the Cabinet Division Sher Afgan Niazi stated this in reply to a question raised by MNA Shabbir Ahmed Khan of MMA during the question hour.
Giving details, he said of this amount Federal Ministers spent Rs 271.46 million, while Rs 145.13 million were spent by State Ministers.
The year-wise expenses by Federal Ministers were Rs 9,061,788 for 2003-04, Rs 14,884,631 for 2004-05, Rs 13,199,368 for 2005-06, while the State Ministers expenses were Rs 1,108,195, Rs 5,774,092 and Rs 7,630,450 respectively, he added.
Among these spending the Federal Ministers of Commerce and Environment share the maximum of Rs 6,597,530 and Rs 3,736,414 respectively. Correspondingly, their State ministers also spent Rs 3,789,824 and Rs 1,943,148 respectively.
It is seen from the details that ministry of commerce spent an extraordinary amount of Rs 6,480,901 in the year 2004-05 on foreign tours.
Privatisation ministry spent Rs 3,568,467, Information Technology Rs 3,669,670, Education Rs 1,200,171 (all on account of Federal Minister), Health Rs 277,702 only pertaining to 2005-06 by its State Minister and Defence spending amounted to Rs 478,899.