Ministers want uniform policy on govt vehicles

LAHORE: Punjab Cabinet members on Thursday voiced concern over the prevailing disparity between the provincial ministers and bureaucracy in the entitlement of government vehicles and other facilities.

Sources stated that during the cabinet meeting held on Friday with Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in chair, the cabinet members called for a uniform policy on the entitlement of government vehicles besides raising objections that bureaucracy was using more facilities than entitled to it.

The chief minister ordered constitution of a three-member committee led by Law Minister Raja Basharat to examine the existing policy of vehicles allotment and come up with its recommendations. The other members of the committee include Provincial Ministers Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-Din and Jehanzaib Khan Khichi.

Sources stated that in the meeting, it was Chaudhry Zaheer, Punjab Minister for Prosecution, who called the attention of the chief minister towards the prevailing discrimination and disparity done with the ministers on the issues related to the entitlement of vehicles and other facilities.

Sources stated that some of the cabinet members told the CM that the law minister, who was the appointing authority of Advocate General, had only one vehicle in use whereas the AG was using two vehicles. A senior cabinet member told the meeting that in the previous era, around 800 vehicles worth billions were purchased by different departments but they were not registered in the Punjab Transport Pool. In the previous government, it was also decided that the law minister would use the bullet proof vehicle but the CM was told that this wasn’t done now. The CM was pressed by his cabinet member to ‘rationalise’ this matter and all the prevailing disparities between the two sides should come to an end. “If a minister is using one vehicle, the official of his department should also use one, there shouldn’t be any disparity” said another cabinet member while talking to The News. “Yes, this matter has been brought into the notice of CM” he said.

Besides, the Punjab ministers on the occasion also lodged a complaint that as per the rules, no official could use a vehicle over 1300CC but most of the ‘Baboos’ were not following the law. The CM was told that every minister had been allotted a 1300CC car whereas in his own department, officials were using costly vehicles which were above their entitlement.

Besides, some of the Punjab cabinet members also stated that the vehicles they were allotted were either 2014-15 model or old whereas in Punjab, there had been multiple precedents that even the Grade 17 officials were using the latest models of vehicles.

Moreover, the cabinet members also raised objections to the official residence used by some of the retired bureaucrats and expressed concern that none of the former ministers was allowed to use the official residence.