Over 400 luxury vehicles for Punjab CM, ministers

Over 400 luxury vehicles have been approved by the Punjab government for the chief minister, ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats, a Transport Department order said Friday.

The purchase of new vehicles is likely to cost around Rs 80 crore on the state exchequer, officials said.

As per the norms for vehicle entitlement, the department has approved 16 Land Cruisers, including two bulletproof, for the chief minister, 13 Mahindra Scorpios for his staff, 14 Maruti Dzire/Honda Amaze/Ertiga for the officers on special duty (OSDs) to the CM, the order said.

Besides, 17 ministers in the Amarinder Singh cabinet will be given Toyota Fortuner or Toyota Crysta, while 97 Toyota Crysta will be brought for legislators, as per the order.

With the new entitlement of vehicles, the chief minister will get Land Cruiser instead of eight Ambassadors and six Mitsubishi Monteros, ministers will now have Toyota Fortuner or Toyota Crysta in place of Toyota Camry, legislators travel mode has been upgraded from Toyota Innova to Toyota Innova Crysta, the order said.

However, officials said no purchase order has been given by the state government for the new luxury vehicles so far.

Farm organisations, including the BKU, criticised the order saying it would put an extra burden on the state exchequer.

The Finance minister during the Budget Session had said the state was reeling under a debt of around Rs 1,95,978 crore.