Ministers' complaints over rundown vehicles gather dust

KATHMANDU, Aug 22: Sick of his rundown government vehicle (Ba 1 Ja 4640), State Minister for Land Reform and Management Man Bahadur Shahi finally lodged a complaint at the Ministry of Home Affairs demanding that the vehicle be replaced with a new one. After much ado, the Home Ministry provided Minister Shahi with a brand new vehicle (Ba 1 Ja 4622).



Similarly, State Minister for Home Affairs Mohammad Rijwan Ansari, who was also tired of moving around in a rundown government vehicle, followed suit. His complaint was attended too. The ministry replaced his vehicle with a new one. The ministers, however, are among the few fortunate in the lot. [break]



Not that the complaints are the first of their kind. Many such complaints have been lodged at the Home Ministry since the last two years but only to gather dust.

The official record shows that the home ministry has arranged 40 vehicles for ministers and state ministers. Twenty of those vehicles currently being used by ministers are not in good shape. While another 10 of the vehicles are totally rundown. The Home Ministry officials said overuse and lack of timely repairs and maintenance contributed to such state of affairs.



Govt decides to buy 10 new vehicles



Following regular complaints, the Home Ministry has decided to procure 10 new vehicles for the ministers. The arrangement is aimed at addressing the demands of additional vehicles.



“Cabinet reshuffle is expected in the immediate future and the number of ministers might exceed 40 soon,” said a source adding, “As we have to provide them all with vehicles we are making preparations in advance.” The estimated expense for the purchase of vehicles is Rs 50 million. “We will shortly call tender bids from three companies,” Shree Batsa Ghimire, joint secretary at the home ministry told myrepublica.com.



According to him, the cabinet meeting decided to procure new vehicles for ministers through the Home Ministry about a month ago. “We have decided to purchase new vehicles as per the cabinet decision and not of our own volition,” said Ghimire.



Officials said that the ministry is looking for black cars similar to the existing vehicles used by ministers. “Japanese cars will be more preferable,” said a high ranking official at the ministry.



Meanwhile, officials at the secretariat of the Constituent Assembly said that the vehicle used by speaker Subas Chandra Nembang was also in a bad shape. The officials have often requested the government to replace the vehicle with a new one. “But the authorities have turned a deaf ear to our requests,” rued an official at the secretariat.

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