CALCUTTA, 13 February 2005 — Indian Parliament’s first communist speaker is on a massive cost-cutting campaign much to the disappointment of legislators used to splurging public money for their own pleasure.

Somnath Chatterjee, lawyer-turned-Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, has laid down new rules to curb the extravagance of lawmakers belonging to standing committees of various ministries of the federal government given to flying abroad and within the country on any pretext family and friends in tow. A close aide to Chatterjee said in Calcutta that the new regulations, drafted jointly by the speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, will come into effect February-end saving millions of rupees, including precious foreign exchange.

“Study tours”, which MPs undertook at the drop of a hat, will pass into history, thanks to Chatterjee’s belt-tightening measures in tune with his own Spartan lifestyle. “He has applied the brakes on globe-trotting MPs who misused all regulations with impunity and got away scot-free,” the aide said.

The new curbs are:

• Parliamentary committee members should not take their wives, children or friends on study tours or any department-related work in other parts of the country. A companion will be allowed only if a member is sick. But all expenses, including hotel charges, will then have to be paid for by the member.

• Only a small subcommittee or study group should go on a tour and report its findings to the whole committee. All members should not take off together. At present, sometimes even after the visit of a committee, another group is sent.

• The tours should be limited to one every year. The old rules permitted two tours a year for every committee.

• Public sector units or organizations that the committee is to examine during the tour should not be asked to pay for the stay. Members could ask the ministries concerned or state governments to provide them accommodation in government guesthouses or, at the most, in government-owned hotels.

• Arrangements should be low-key, not ostentatious.

• Instead of every MP getting a car from the PSU or the state government concerned, at least two should share a car.

• Committee members or accompanying officers should not demand a particular hotel or five-star comforts.

If any member violates these stipulations, they will be debarred from undertaking committee tours in future.

Chatterjee took the leader of the opposition, Lal Krishna Advani, and Pranab Mukherjee into confidence before finalizing the cost-cutting steps. He has himself been setting an example for other MPs to follow. After becoming speaker, Chatterjee has been abroad only thrice. He has declined other invitations making him the first speaker to say no to many foreign jaunts.

Chatterjee not only refunded the government the daily allowance of $75 on the grounds that the hosts took care of all his expenses, he paid the bill for his wife’s travel, including her air ticket, hotel stay and gratuities. “We are the servants of the people. And India is not a rich country. So MPs have no business to behave like maharajas and loot the public exchequer just because they happen to have been elected by voters”, said Chatterjee.