Former Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal clocks 277 flying hours

The report shows that Beniwal freely used the state aircraft. In 2011-12 she spent 83 hours in the air, followed by 91 hours in 2012-13, and 102 hours in 2013-14.

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Former Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal clocks 277 flying hours

Kamla Beniwal

This is one governor who knows how to rack up the air miles-for free. Gujarat Raj Bhawan records have revealed that former Governor Kamla Beniwal used the state aircraft to travel extensively during her tenure. In the last three years, Beniwal flew out of Gujarat 63 times, mostly to her hometown Jaipur, between 2011 and 2014.

The 87-year-old-now the Governor of Mizoram-travelled to Jaipur 53 times; the remaining 10 flights were to Delhi. Interestingly most of these have been termed as "official trips" even as the Governor clocked 277 flying hours. There is no formula to arrive at the public cost of these trips, but informed sources say it could be about Rs 1.5 crore. Beniwal's trips to her hometown have been shown as official visits, but she didn't have any official visits to any other city except Delhi.

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Since 2009 when she was first appointed Governor of Tripura and shifted to Gujarat later, Beniwal spent 497 days out of her state. Of these only 12 visits were categorized as 'private.' In 2010, 2011 and 2013 she spent over 100 days out of the state every year. These numbers are part of a report based on internal records of Raj Bhawan that the Centre is now scrutinising. Beniwal had a strained relationship with Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat. Beniwal, who was shunted out of Gujarat and sent to Mizoram where she took charge on July 9, had a running battle with the Modi government over the appointment of Lokayukta and some legislations. There were at least nine bills that she sent back with remarks or sat on for long, in some cases almost three years. Beniwal's Gujarat tenure was to end in November.

After shunting her to Mizoram the Centre found a BJP loyalist as her replacement in Gujarat. While O.P. Kohli was appointed as the new Governor there were reports that Beniwal was resisting going to Mizoram but left with no choice she took charge in the state.

During her confrontation with Modi, Beniwal appointed retired Justice R.A. Mehta as Lokayukta in Gujarat against which the state went in appeal to the High Court and then the Supreme Court which upheld the appointment last year. Justice Mehta did not take up the post, however, and the Modi government had named a new nominee.

The report shows that Beniwal freely used the state aircraft. In 2011-12 she spent 83 hours in the air, followed by 91 hours in 2012-13, and 102 hours in 2013-14.

The aircraft used by the Governor was a nineseater Super King Beechcraft 200 that is likely to be grounded later in December this year as its 15-year lifespan comes to an end. It was bought for Rs. 19 crore during the tenure former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel in 1999. The Comptroller and Auditor General had slammed the procedure adopted for the purchase of the aircraft.

The Gujarat government is all set to buy a new aircraft as the existing one has been facing glitches of late. The government has to hire private aircraft and helicopters often; an amount of Rs. 17 crore has already been spent by the government in this manner. The state government also had to spend over Rs 10 crore on installing new safety equipment in the aircraft since it needed maintenance over time.

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The Gujarat government's new aircraft is likely to cost over Rs 100 crore. The state is likely to purchase a bigger aircraft this time, one that can accommodate 12-15 people with better amenities and high safety standards.

The state government has decided to go in for a global tender and has allocated an amount of Rs 1 crore to initiate the purchasing process.