Central government employees may get to
visit some SAARC nations barring Pakistan under new Leave Travel
Concession (LTC) rules being finalised by the Centre.
"Employees will be able to avail LTC to
visit some SAARC countries. A proposal in this regard is being finalised
by the government," Union Minister Jitendra Singh told .
LTC allows grant of leave and ticket reimbursement to eligible central government employees.
The decision has been taken to promote people-to-people contact and boost tourism among the SAARC regions, he said.
"The government has been taking many
steps to promote trade and travel. This is one of such steps to further
boost ties among SAARC nations," said Singh, Minister of State for
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
The South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) is a group of eight nations comprising Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and India.
Officials in the Personnel Ministry said
the LTC facility will not be available for visiting Pakistan and few
other nations due to security concerns.
The draft for new LTC rules is in initial stage and it will be finalised after inter-ministerial consultations, they said.
"One of the major decisions taken by the
Narendra Modi government soon after it took over was to extend the
facility of conversion of 'home town' LTC to visit states of Jammu &
Kashmir, northeastern region and Union Territory of Andaman &
Nicobar for a further period of two years up to September 25, 2016," the
Minister said.
The Personnel Ministry has been
regularly reviewing LTC rules to allow government employees to visit
unexplored places like northeast. The ministry is also considering
allowing government servants not entitled to travel by air to fly in
economy class.
The ministry has of late put in place
measures to check misuse of LTC facility. CBI is probing fake travel
bills scam (LTC scam) allegedly involving certain government employees
and present and former Members of Parliament.
"All the ministries or departments are
advised to bring it to the notice of all their employees that any misuse
of LTC will be viewed seriously and the employees will be liable for
appropriate action under the rules.
"In order to keep a check on any kind of
misuse of LTC, ministries or departments are advised to randomly get
some of the air tickets submitted by the officials verified from the
airlines concerned with regard to the actual cost of air travel
vis-a-vis the cost indicated on the air tickets submitted by the
officials," according to an order issued by the Personnel Ministry.
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