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Parallel PMO now official

The provision OF a "parallel PMO" has been made official in the Union Budget 2004-05. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have to share the budgeted allocation of Rs 14.39 crore to his office with the National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Until the last fiscal, the Budget allocation for the Union Home Ministry, which accounts for salaries and other expenses of the Union Council of Ministers, including those of Prime Minister's Office, the PMO used to get an exclusive allocation to take care of its expenditures on salaries, travel and other expenses.

But the Budget allocation for the PMO under the UPA Government, besides providing for "salaries, travel and office expenses", also provides for "other establishment related expenditure of the PMO and the National Advisory Council, constituted for implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme".

Apparently, the compulsion of fending for Ms Gandhi-led NAC has forced Union Finance Minister P Chidambram to raise this year's allocation for the PMO by Rs 2.67 crore over the last fiscal's actual expenditure of Rs 11.72 crore.

The Finance Minister was obliged to raise the budgetary allocation for the PMO despite the fact that his budget has proposed to significantly slash provisions for salaries and tour expenses of various other ministers by reducing the budgetary grants.

The budgetary provisions for the tour expenses, according to the Budget presented by him, have been put at Rs 46 crore, which is Rs 42 crore less than that of the last fiscal's.

According to the budgetary provisions for the Ministry of Home Affairs, the allocation for the salaries of Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of States and Deputy Ministers has been reduced to Rs 1.51 crore from the previous year's Rs 2.91 crore.

The sumptuary and other allowances have also been reduced, though marginally, from Rs 2.73 crore to Rs 2.55 crore.

Source: The Pioneer > Home