The helicopter sorties of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to different parts of the State during the last two years cost Rs 6.02 crore, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kalpataru Das informed the Assembly on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question from Nihar Mahanand (Cong), the Minister said the helicopter used by the Chief Minister to visit different places was taken on hire.
He said Rs 83.18 lakh was spent for the official visit of the ministers including the Chief Minister to places inside and outside the State.
The tour expenses of the Chief Minister, other than the helicopter trips, during the last two years was Rs10.35 lakh.
The expenses were for visits outside the State 17 times, the Minister said and added that Minister of State for Science and Technology Ramesh Majhi had next highest travel expense of Rs 4.4 lakh during the period when he visited outside the country also.
Pradip Maharathy, who had resigned from the Cabinet last year, had the lowest travel expense of Rs 20,456, Das said.