Around Rs 200 cr spent on salaries, allowances, facilities for Rajya Sabha MPs in last two years: RTI

Around Rs 200 crore was spent on salaries, allowances and facilities for Rajya Sabha MPs over the last two years with around Rs 63 crore spent on their travel alone, according to an RTI reply.

In 2021-22, in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, the exchequer spent over Rs 97 crore on 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.

The Secretariat said that the expenditure incurred on former MPs of Rajya Sabha under account head "Domestic Travel Expenses" was Rs 1.7 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 70 lakh for 2022-23.

According to records in 2021, Rajya Sabha's productivity rate was 43 percent 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. This year so far, during the Budget session its productivity reached a low of 24 per cent.