Consider this: The Yeddyurappa government has spent a whopping Rs 4.5 crore to purchase luxury cars for Cabinet ministers and senior bureaucrats. In addition, the government has spent Rs 1.5 crore for repair and maintenance of automobiles used by ministers and officials.
Between May 2008 and November 2009, when the north Karnataka reeled under the impact of the devastating floods, as many as 28 Cabinet ministers and over two dozen top bureaucrats ordered the purchase of brand new cars. In the last three years, the Government spent nearly Rs 11 crore for this purpose -- 59 cars for ministers at Rs 5.67 crore, 39 cars for officials at Rs 2.63 crore.
Some of these vehicles include the high-end Tayota Corolla Altis, Scoda Octavia Elegance, Toyota Innova and TATA Safari. Each of these luxury vehicles costs between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 12 lakh. This is over and above the new automobiles that some ministers have purchased by using their privileged positions as heads of various boards and corporations like BMTC and KSRTC.
The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) has divulged these details to Mandya MLA M Srinivas under in response to his unstarred question in the just-concluded Legislature session. But the department has been loathe to divulge the the names of these ministers and officials.
According to the rule book, a car should have run for at least 1 lakh kms or should be totally unworthy for the roads before a minister can opt for placing orders for a new purchase.
But who cares for rules?
At whose cost?
* BJP Govt has spent over s 4.5 crore to buy cars for ministers and officials
* Nearly Rs 1.5 crore spent for repairing, maintaining ministers’ and officials’ cars
* In the last 3 years, nearly s 11 crore spent for these purposes
