Mangaluru: An RTI reply has revealed that the Karnataka government, under former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in its five-year tenure spent a whopping Rs 24 crore in travel allowances.

Topping the list of ministers, who availed maximum travel allowances at the time is the then Health Minister UT Khader. His travel allowances amount to Rs 1,56,08,590. He is followed by former Forest Minister Ramanath Rai (Rs 1,52,36,321) and the then Law Minister T B Jayachandra (Rs 99,72,04).

The ministers were paid Rs 30 per km for travel and their daily allowances were Rs 2000 per day (within Karnataka) and Rs 2500 per day (outside the state).

The revelation came in response to a query filed by RTI activist Bhimappa Gadad who has questioned the rationale behind such huge expenditure undertaken at the cost of taxpayers money when the same could have been used for development works.