MP CM spent Rs.1.39 crore on foreign trip, took child specialist as personal physician

New Delhi A ninemember delegation led by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spent Rs139 crore nearly 210000 on a nineday trip to Japan and South Korea between September 29 and October 7 which also included giving gifts to investors and political leaders the reply to an RTI Right to Information query has revealedMadhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan File picInterestingly the documents also reveal that the chief ministers office had requested the principal secretaries of the commerce as well as health and family welfare departments that RK Ray a child specialist at Jai Prakash Chikitsalaya here be given permission to travel as the chief ministers personal physicianThe reply received from the Madhya Pradesh Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation Limited TRIFAC by activist Ajay Dubey in November stated that gift items of Mrignayani MP Emporium and MP Laghu Udyog Nigam Limited both owned by the state government were carried for distribution to political leadersVIPsinvestors delegates during an interactive session in Tokyo chaired by the chief minister These gifts had no commercial value according to a document accessed through the RTI replyThe RTI reply revealed that Rs1850 lakh was spent on airfare for the trip Rs35 lakh on hotel charges Rs23 lakh in Japan and Rs12 lakh in South Korea Rs20 lakh on local transportation Rs12 lakh in Japan and Rs8 lakh in South Korea and Rs550 lakh on daily allowance Rs350 lakh in Japan and Rs2 lakh in South KoreaOne of the documents showed that Rs1013740 was approved for the interpreterThe venues of meetings and sessions with investors industry and companies cost Rs40 lakh including the cost of the interpreter with Rs25 lakh spent in Japan and Rs 15 lakh in South Korea This apart Rs20 lakh was spent on promotional material and goods Rs1250 lakh in Japan and Rs750 lakh in South KoreaDuring the trip Rs76 lakh was spent in Japan and Rs4450 lakh in South Korea not counting the airfareAt a time when the farmers are committing suicide in the state due to drought the CM is making foreign trips Moreover when it comes to investment Madhya Pradesh doesnt come in the priority list of Japan and South Korea among the other states in India Dubey saidAmong the others who travelled with the chief minister were Yashodhara Raje Scindia the minister for commerce industry and employment Mohammed Suleman principal secretary in Scindias ministry SK Mishra the ministers principal secretary Hari Rajan Rao the ministers secretary DP Ahuja the TRIFAC managing director Kumar Purushottam managing director of the Madhya Pradesh Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam Limited a state representative of the Confederation of Indian Industry CII and a representative of Ernst amp Young BhopalThis is the second time this year that Chouhans foreign trip has raised eyebrowsIn August the reply to an RTI plea by Dubey revealed that an eightmember delegation led by Chouhan spent close to Rs3 crore 46500058000 per head on a fiveday US trip in February which included giving expensive gifts to investorsMadhya Pradesh has been mired in the Vyapam scam for years but the irregularities eventually came to light when 20 people were arrested in 2013 for impersonating candidates appearing for the 2009 medical entrance examinationFortyeight people associated with the Vyapam scam have died mostly under mysterious circumstances Following the chain of deaths the Supreme Court in July directed the CBI to investigate not just the Vyapam scam but also the deaths related to itThe most recent death was of an Indian Forest Service officer Vijay Bahadur Singh whose body was found close to a railway track near Odishas Belpahad station on October 15 He was travelling by the PuriJodhpur Express The CBI has started probing this death as well