Cost cutting: Baalu cancels foreign trip

T R Baalu, Minister for Road Transport and Highways on Friday became the first minister to cancel a visit abroad, after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's appeal to his colleagues to avoid foreign travel as part of austerity measures.

Baalu was scheduled to lead a delegation to Finland from June 9 to 12 for signing a memorandum of cooperation in the field of transport and also for holding bilateral discussions with the Finland government, an official statement said.

The Minister "has called off his tour in deference to the austerity measures announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday," it added.

Asking Union Ministers to take austerity measures in view of rising oil prices, the Prime Minister recommended major cuts in their expenses, especially on foreign travel.

Noting that the "huge burden imposed on our financial resources due to the continuous rising trend in global oil prices and our dependence on import of crude", he said: "I am, therefore, writing to ask you to severely curtail expenditure on air travel, particularly foreign travel, except in cases where it is deemed to be absolutely necessary."

In a letter to his ministerial colleagues, Singh said while "we need to explain to the people the constraints and reasons that have compelled the government to introduce these measures" to hike petro product prices, it was simultaneously "equally necessary for us to introduce the utmost economy and in our own administrations and establishments."

The Prime Minister maintained that the economy measures like cuts in foreign travel "may be made applicable immediately for your own self and also for all senior functionaries."

Inflation: The silent killer!