New Delhi: According to an RTI reply, around Rs 200 crore was spent on salaries, allowances and facilities of Rajya Sabha MPs in the last two years, while around Rs 63 crore was spent on their travel alone.
In 2021-22, following the coronavirus pandemic, the exchequer spent over Rs 97 crore on Rajya Sabha members.
This amount includes Rs 28.5 crore on domestic travel and Rs 1.28 crore on international travel. Salary Rs 57.6 cr, medical bills Rs 17 lac and office expenses Rs 7.5 cr. It spent Rs 1.2 crore on information technology support to MPs.
In 2021-23, a total of Rs 100 crore was spent, which included Rs 33 crore in domestic and foreign travel expenses, according to a reply given by the Rajya Sabha secretariat to a question filed by Madhya Pradesh under the Right to Information (RTI) Act – Based Chander Shekhar Gaur.
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has said that Rs 58.5 crore was spent on salaries of members, Rs 30.9 crore on domestic travel and Rs 2.6 crore on foreign travel during 2022-23. Other expenses include medical treatment (Rs 65 lakh), office expenses of Rs 7 crore and IT services of Rs 1.5 crore.
The secretariat said that Rs 1.7 crore was spent in 2021-22 and Rs 70 lakh in 2022-23 under the head “domestic travel expenses” on former Rajya Sabha MPs.
As per records in 2021, the productivity rate of Rajya Sabha was 43 per cent in the winter session, 29 per cent in the monsoon session and 90 per cent in the budget session.
The following year, its productivity was 94 per cent during the winter session, 42 per cent during the monsoon session and 90 per cent during the budget session. Its productivity reached a low of 24 per cent during the budget session so far this year.
