Wheels to new wings, Khattar is on a move

CHANDIGARH: First a Land Cruiser for chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and now an aircraft for VVIPs the Haryana government seems to have given up on its simplicity quotient and developed wings. The state had an aircraft which was damaged and wants to replace it with another one. All it needs is Khattar's approval.
Haryana aviation minister Ram Bilas Sharma said he has proposed buying the aircraft as "there is need for the same"."However, the chief minister has not agreed to the proposal till now," he added. "Wo pure sarkar ke pass hota hai (It's for the entire government)."
Haryana had an eight-seater aircraft for VVIP movement which had crashed in March 2014 during take-off at Chandigarh Airport. Then Haryana governor Jagannath Pahadia, his wife, and eight others on board had a miraculous escape in the crash.
One of the reasons behind the decision appears to be the huge cost incurred by the government in the past few months in hiring aircraft and helicopters. An RTI query had revealed that an amount of Rs 2.70 crore was spent on hiring aircraft 57 times between October 2014 and July 2015. Sources say that Haryana chief minister and Governor are among the most frequent fliers. Congress's Jhajjar MLA and former cabinet minister Geeta Bhukkal criticized the BJP government for the proposal "at a time when farmers are waiting for the compensation in lieu of damage to their crops because of natural calamities".
"When Khattar became chief minister, it was said that he believed in simplicity. But you see now ... Crores are spent on renovation of his official residence apart from buying a costly car," Bhukkal says. She alleges that the BJP government is buying the aircraft keeping in view the upcoming assembly in various states (Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat).
The state government had recently bought a Toyota Land Cruiser worth around Rs1.35 crore. This is the highest amount the government has spent on a car for any chief minister till now. Bullet-proofing of the car may cost a further Rs35-40 lakh, and a decision in this regard will be taken by the police, keeping in view the threat perception. After taking over the government in 2014, Khattar has been traveling in a Mercedes Benz, which was bought in 2007.