Austerity measures on the anvil

A cut in spending on foreign travel by ministers and officials, a bar on holding meetings in five-star hotels and a 10 per cent slash in budget for workshops and seminars are among the austerity measures government is planning prune expenditure in the wake of a tight economic situation.
 
Also on the cards is scaling down of allocations made to various schemes, where spending will be insisted on current outlay before asking for additional money.  

'The austerity drive would be divided into two parts. First there would be a cut in establishment expenses, and then there could be some cut in the scheme wise expenses as well,' official sources said.  

They said purchase of new cars would now now be limited to defence purposes.

With finances under stress, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced on Wednesday in Parliament that government would resort to 'unpopular' austerity measures to deal with fiscal problems.  

'I am going to take a little bit of unpopular steps. I am going to issue some austerity measures,' Mukherjee had said.

It is likely that the government would announce some curbs in foreign tours by ministers and officials as well as insistence on travel by economy class.

'A detailed plan has to be worked out for expenditure rationalisation,' the official said on Friday.