An expenditure of Rs 1,484 crore was incurred on chartered flights, maintenance of aircraft and hotline facilities during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to 84 countries since June 2014, according to the government.
The details of Modi’s foreign travel expenditure under the three heads were shared in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) V.K. Singh.
According to the data, a total of Rs 1,088.42 crore was spent on maintenance of the prime minister’s aircraft and Rs 387.26 crore on chartered flights during the period between June 15, 2014 and June 10, 2018.
The total expenditure on hotline was Rs 9.12 crore. Modi visited a total of 84 countries in 42 foreign trips since taking over as prime minister in May 2014.
The details provided by V.K. Singh did not include expenditure on hotline facilities during his foreign visits in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The cost of chartered flights for visits in 2018-19 was also not included.
According to the reply, the prime minister visited 24 countries in 2015-16 followed by 19 in 2017-18 and 18 nations in 2016-17.