As per the information obtained through the RTI revealed the highest public representatives of the State, who know the financial condition of the state better than others, have mercilessly misused the public exchequer.
As per the information gather by RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, revealed the state government had burdened the public exchequer with Rs. 2,19,50,000/- by purchasing 10 high end model of Toyota Camry, which were not even suitable for the Hilly terrain of the state.
The purchase file was moved on 19/01/2013 and quotations from various dealers were called for suitable cars. File noting revealed the sanctioned fleet strength of GAD is 81 and available vehicles as on 02/02/2013 were 83 vehicles. GAD identified 10 such vehicles which crossed 2 lac kilometers and therefore proposed the purchase of 10 new vehicles.
It is interesting to note that as on 08/02/2013 Rs. 87,390/- and Rs. 294/- were available under Major Head 2052(MV) and Major Head 2013(MV) respectively. On 11/02/2013 Rs. 10 lacs and Rs. 25 lacs were provided to the Major Head 2013 (MV) and Major Head 2052 (MV) respectively. And on 27th May, 2013, the approval to purchase 10 Camrys at Rs. 2, 19, 50,000/- was granted on the head Major Head-2013-00-101-01-SOON (NP) VOTED in the SOE “MV” during the financial year 2013-14.
It is revealed from the file noting that no committee was formed for the determination of the suitability of the purchased cars with the view of hilly terrain.
File noting suggests that generally a car is downgraded after it logs more than 2 lac kilometers, however, the RTI it’s also revealed the four official Toyota Altis cars had covered 30,000kms to 63,975kms were also replaced with new vehicles.
The department had got proposal from five automakers viz. Maruti, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Chevrolet and surprise to all most expensive vehicle (which was in the proposal list) was chosen for the Ministers.
The story of extravagance didn’t stopped here, as another RTI information revealed that the Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri got his Camry replaced to Toyota Fortunner Petrol on the ground that the Camry car is not suitable for hilly terrain.
