The government is strict in stopping the use of government vehicles for personal purposes

The government is being strict to stop the illegal use of government vehicles by government employees. The initiative has been taken to stop illegal use of vehicles of projects and government departments.

A letter in this regard has been sent to the relevant departments of the government from the chief adviser's office on Monday. The relevant government departments have already given instructions to stop the use of such vehicles by holding an emergency meeting.

This instruction was given yesterday in a letter signed by Director (Administration) AKM Moniruzzaman of the Office of the Chief Adviser. It has been mentioned that employees and officials of various ministries and departments are using government vehicles without any logical reason. These vehicles were engaged in the work of various government offices, departments, organizations, bank-insurance, companies and other institutions and projects.

In this regard, the Transport Commissioner of the Directorate of Government Vehicles. Abul Hashanat Humayun told Kabir mass media, 'We have heard about that letter. Most of our vehicles are used by district and upazila level administrators outside Dhaka. There is no such opportunity. Even so, we will check if someone is using more than one vehicle illegally.'

According to the Directorate of Public Vehicles, there are about 2,000 vehicles in the public transport pool. Among them there are 200 cars in Dhaka. The rest of the vehicles are used by local administration officials. The oil and maintenance costs of these vehicles are paid by the government.

On the other hand, the vehicle accounts of various government departments and projects are to be kept in the office of Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department – ​​IMED. According to the rules, after the commencement and completion of the project work, the vehicle must be accounted for by the agency. But they don't have any account of the car. According to the sources concerned, the projects are supposed to have three to four thousand vehicles.

IMED Secretary Abul Kashem Md. Mohiuddin told the media, 'According to the rules, the government departments and projects are supposed to account for the vehicles. But they usually don't. As a result, instructions are being sent for speedy calculation of the project vehicle.

The letter regarding the vehicle from the Chief Adviser's office has already reached IMED on Monday. The top officials of that department have decided to send a letter to the government offices in this regard. The letter has also been directed to reach the concerned departments within this week.

According to the letter from the Office of the Chief Adviser, the car loan has been taken under the Interest Free Loans and Car Service Monetization Policy-2020 for Authorized Government Officers. Taking the full amount (Tk. 50 thousand) for car maintenance expenses. Again using the vehicles of various government institutions illegally. As a result, there is chaos and financial wastage in public administration.

In this regard, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman told Prothom Alo, 'This initiative will bring a positive dimension. It was what we wanted. However, the government officials who used the car illegally should also be held accountable. So that a message goes out to everyone that this kind of thing can't be done anymore.'