lol… this is funny… a pakistani minister owes money to indian air force…
what next… mushy billed for toll tax during his trip to agra..
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\01\23\story_23-1-2008_pg7_56
NEW DELHI: Former petroleum minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon owes Rs 2.48 million to the Indian Air Force (IAF), which sent a letter to his Indian hosts, the Petroleum Ministry here, complaining about the non-payment of dues even after a lapse of 22 months.
Three flights undertaken by the Pakistani minister in India, using IAF aircraft in February 2006, have come under controversy with the IAF knocking at the doors of the Petroleum Ministry.
The service aircraft were provided to Jadoon for traveling purposes at the instance of the Indian Petroleum Ministry. In the latest move, the accounts director of the Air Headquarters has now sought Petroleum Minister Murli Deora’s intervention to direct his officials to settle the bills. Jadoon made the trips on February 18 and 19, 2006, during his visit to India to discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
The communication sent to Deora, through his personal secretary, points out that “as per the indent and flight acceptance certificate, the bill towards air lift services is to be paid by the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.”
All the three bills were forwarded to the ministry sometime around September, 2006 and since then, many reminders have been sent, the latest being one sent to Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan in August, 2007 , according to the communication sent to the minister.
In the August 7 letter to the Petroleum Secretary, it was stressed that “failure to reimburse dues leads to unnecessary criticism and avoidable audit objections.” There was, however, still no action on the part of the ministry to pay off or even acknowledge the letter.
Expediting payment: Urging the minister to expedite the payment, the communication said, “The delay in receipt of the payment exceeding one year are reflected in Annual Audit Report by Audit Authority, causing difficulty to Air HQ, Ministry of Defence in explaining the delay in recovery of payment”.
The IAF sources said the Petroleum Ministry had requested the airlift services for the visiting dignitary and hence it has the responsibility to clear the bills as the dignitary cannot be asked to pay them.
The ministry is reported to be holding back the bills as exorbitant. In a letter to the Petroleum Secretary, the IAF ,however, clarified that “the rates are charged as per prescribed guidelines issued by the Ministry of Defence.” It said that “the air assets are quite scarce and need to be utilised in a cost-effective manner”, adding that special efforts were made to spare the aircraft from the defence duties in response to the specific requests.
