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| Misuse of Govt vehicles dents exchequer | | RTI goes in vain, SMG deny information | | Bashir Assad
JAMMU, Feb 14: Though the State Motor Garages has recently denied information under RTI on number of Government vehicles attached with Ministers and bureaucrats in the State on "security reasons", the fact remains that there is wanton misuse of Government vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir. The excessive fuel consumption dents the exchequer.
Withholding the sought information speaks volumes about the misuse of vehicles and the excessive burden on the State exchequer which according to estimates runs in hundreds of crores. It has also punctured the tall claims of transparency and fairness.
The unabated and unauthorized use of vehicles with red lights atop can be gauged from the fact that dozens of such vehicles can be seen waiting for hours in front of schools, hospitals, shopping malls, parks, and other unwanted places. Many politicians and bureaucrats can be seen violating rules even if they are not "statutorily entitled" to cars with red lights in the State.
A question arises. Who is entitled to a Government vehicle besides Ministers and Administrative Secretaries to the Government in the Civil Secretariat? Though the entitlement of vehicles is limited to the Ministers and the Administrative Secretaries to whom the vehicles are normally allotted by the Motor Garages Department and according to set norms only those vehicles are entitled to fuel which are essentially allotted by the Garages. But there are hundreds of vehicles attached with the officials in the Civil Secretariat.
If number of vehicles parked in the Civil Secretariat premises is any indication it seems that Government vehicles are even attached with the PSOs, PAs and Private Secretaries of babus not to speak of Under Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Special Secretaries and others down the line. However, the State Motor Garages Department has categorically denied having allotted any vehicle to any Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary to Government.
But where from those vehicles come which are attached with these Under Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries and Special Secretaries and also the PAs and Private Secretaries of the Ministers? Ask any one in the Civil Secretariat, he will reply the question within a second. The vehicles attached with the lower-rung bureaucrats and the PAs and Private Secretaries of Ministers actually belong to the departments. The departmental vehicles particularly at the directorate level are attached with the officials not entitled to Government vehicles at the directions of the concerned Ministries. One could find dozens of vehicles of each department attached with the respective officials of those departments in the Civil Secretariat.
What is interesting to note is that fuel to each vehicle is provided by the respective department on a baseless entry in the logbook of the vehicle. The vehicles actually attached with officials in the Civil Secretariat draw fuel on false tours shown against each vehicle when the vehicles basically remain attached with the officials in the Civil Secretariat.
One could easily find that nearly eight out of every 10 official cars are misused by the civil servants in the Civil Secretariat, resulting in hundreds of crores in excessive fuel consumption every year. Let the Government provide the details of Government cars used by bureaucrats not entitled to; a huge scandal will come to the fore. But most of the Government departments have refused to divulge details of official vehicles in their possession. |
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