In the last 35 months, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar had travelled overseas 29 times since taking up the office, according to information revealed under the Right to Information Act (RTI).
During the last 35 months, around Rs. 10 crore were spent as Kumar visited 28 countries as head of parliamentary delegations.
Senior officials of the Lok Sabha Secretariat and Members of Parliament from various political parties accompanied Kumar during the trips, the information given to activist Subhash Agrawal under the RTI Act revealed.
In connection to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) work, Kumar visited Switzerland for the highest number of times in the last 35 months.
Apart from Switzerland, she also visited Trinidad and Tobago, UK, Sri Lanka, Isle of Man, Swaziland, Kenya and Tanzania. The main purpose of her visit to this nation was in connection to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association works.
Kumar along with her took Parliamentary delegations to countries like Italy, Austria, Mauritius, Hungary, Bhutan, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Vietnam, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Iran, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Kumar, who was elected as Lok Sabha Speaker in 2009, also had travelled to USA, Panama and Thailand for her (IPU) works.
(With inputs from IBNS)
