PMO says polite no to MoS Jaiswal’s request for yet another dash to hometown on VIP jet

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has quietly but firmly turned down Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal’s rather frequent request for use of the latest Embraer executive jets...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has quietly but firmly turned down Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal’s rather frequent request for use of the latest Embraer executive jets of the VVIP IAF squadron for travel to his parliamentary constituency Kanpur, ostensibly for official purposes.

Jaiswal, a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president and two-time Lok Sabha MP, was forced to approach the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for permission of official jets as the Border Security Force’s lone Embraer jet, officially used by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, has been virtually grounded for the past five months for want of pilots.

data-lazy-src="https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg" alt="" width="1px" height="1px" style="display:none;">

Apart from designated VVIPs including the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister, the VVIP squadron planes can be used by other Union Ministers with the permission of only the Prime Minister. India has five Embraer jets, imported from Brazil last year at a cost of Rs 727 crore. Of these, four are with VVIP squadron and one with the BSF.

Story continues below this ad

Government sources confirmed to The Indian Express that the PMO turned down Jaiswal’s request the third time he wanted to travel to Kanpur on the VVIP jet. The planes are much in demand and are used for high priority foreign visits. For instance, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will use it to travel to Pakistan next week. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan uses it for quiet visits to world capitals, including Riyadh.

Jaiswal was denied permission after it came to the PMO notice that he had been using the BSF jet frequently for travel to Kanpur although with the permission of Patil. BSF officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Jaiswal had been using the executive jet frequently to fly to Chakeri air base near Kanpur.

The BSF aviation wing is now forced to take pilots on loan from the IAF if it has to fly the Embraer jet. The BSF has one captain and two co-pilots for the executive jet.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Jaiswal said he had never requested the PMO for any jet. “In my force the BSF, we have 2-3 aircraft. Why should I request the PMO for one?” Asked specifically about the use of the VVIP executive jet, he said, “We have one Embraer in the BSF as well. He did admit that the BSF jet had been grounded for a few months due to shortage of pilots, but it will be resolved soon”.