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Austerity measures on anvil, warns Pranab

Government may slash spending on foreign travel by ministers and officials and on meetings in five-star hotels as part of austerity measures to cut down on budget deficit in view of the tight economic situation.

Also on the cards is pruning 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.

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.