Rs 200 crore spent on Rajya Sabha MPs’ expenses in two years: RTI

An RTI reply reveals that over the past two years, approximately Rs 200 crore was allocated for salaries, allowances, and facilities of Rajya Sabha MPs, including a significant sum of around Rs 63 crore solely for their travel expenses. In the fiscal year 2021-22, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the government disbursed over Rs 97 crore for Rajya Sabha members. The amount includes Rs 28.5 crore on domestic travel and Rs 1.28 crore
on international travel. Salaries amounted to Rs 57.6 crore, medical bills of Rs 17 lakh and office expenses of Rs 7.5 crore. It also spent Rs 1.2 crore on information technology assistance to the MPs. In the 2021-23, Rs 100 crore was spent in total which included Rs 33 crore in domestic and foreign travel expenses, according to the reply by Rajya Sabha Secretariat to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by Madhya Pradesh based Chander Shekhar Gaur. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has said that during 2022-23, Rs 58.5 crore was spent on the salaries of members, while Rs 30.9 crore on domestic
travel and Rs 2.6 crore on foreign travel. Other expenses include medical treatment (Rs 65 lakh), Rs 7 crore in office expenses and Rs 1.5 crore on IT services.