Union law minister Sadananda Gowda has sought for an enquiry on officials of the protocol department at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) as inflated bills for food and beverages have been raised in the names of union ministers and other government officials.
Gowda pointed out that the bills of three ministers from the state, including himself, have shot up through the roof.
He has sought for an enquiry by the Karnataka government as he feels that the department has inflated the bills raised in the name of VIPs passing through the airport, reported Bangalore Mirror.
BM reported that two other union ministers who have been affected by this are minister for chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar and minister for food and civil aviation GM Siddeshwara.
While the size of the scam is yet to be established, sources have said that it might run into a few lakhs, reported BM.
A source said, “The job of the state government's protocol personnel deployed at KIA is to usher in the state guests who land at or exit from KIA. There are 14 protocol officials led by a deputy secretary and two under-secretaries. These officials extend hospitality on behalf of the state and this includes serving coffee and snacks to VIPs in the lounge. For several years, the bills raised on food and beverages was in the Rs 35,000-40,000 range per month. But in the last few months the bills have been in the range of Rs 3-4 lakh per month.”
“What is baffling is how the monthly bill had shot up nearly 10 times when the VIPs and their consumption capacities had remained unchanged and so had the prices of beverages,” the source added.