Notwithstanding a big controversy regarding expenditure on her foreign travels, the then Indian President Pratibha Patil ran up a bill of staggering Rs.18.08 crore on her final trip abroad shortly before demitting office.

This has come out from an official information accessed through RTI.

The chartering of the Air India Boeing 747-400 jumbo for Pratibha Patil two-nation trip to South Africa and Seychelles from April 29 to May 8 2012 alone cost Rs.16.38 crore.

What’s more, an expenditure of Rs.1.46 crore was incurred in Pretoria, the South African capital. Of this, Rs.71.82 lakh was spent on local stay while 52.33 lakh was spent on transportation and 22.12 lakh on miscellaneous expenditure.

In Durban, an expenditure of Rs.23.55 lakh was incurred.

Of this hotel stay alone cost nearly 18 lakh and transportation was Rs.5.27 lakh.

The information regarding the lodging and other expenditures in South Africa were offered by the Indian Missions in Pretoria and Durban under RTI.

A big controversy broke out when it was come into the fray that Patil had incurred an expenditure of Rs.205 crore on her 12 foreign trips covering more than twenty countries across four continents during her five-year term which ended on July 25 2012.