New vehicles for DC-UNOs: Why this gift before the election?

The government has decided to purchase new vehicles for the DCs (administrative heads of districts) and UNOs (heads of upazilas) at a time when foreign exchange reserves are dwindling at an alarming rate, and there is an acute dollar crunch in the market.

According to a Prothom Alo report on 21 September, the finance ministry approved a proposal on 27 August to allocate Tk 3.8 billion to purchase 261 new vehicles for DCs and UNOs.

The DCs of 61 districts out of 64 districts will receive new vehicles, while another 200 cars are being purchased for the UNOs. Notably, the proposed vehicles feature 2700 cc engine capacities, a privilege typically reserved for Grade-I and II officials (equivalent to secretary and additional secretary ranks).

When imports of medical equipment and many essential goods have been reduced due to the dollar crunch, and the prices of power, water, and gas are being raised in phases to cut subsidies, how can the decision to purchase new vehicles at a whopping amount of foreign currency be justified?

As per an austerity measure, the finance ministry issued a circular in July, saying that all types of vehicle purchases would remain suspended at government offices under the operation and development allocations in the fiscal year 2023-24.

The circular also made it mandatory to seek the finance division’s approval to replace cars that are over ten years old. Earlier, the finance minister issued two separate circulars in July 2020 and 2022, disclosing the decision to suspend car purchases.

Now, they have stepped back from the decision.

The budget for fiscal year 2023-24 has an allocation of Tk 600 million for purchasing new cars. But the finance division has now approved Tk 3.8 billion for this purpose. This deviation raises the question – what is the necessity of budget formulation?

The individuals concerned believe that the government provided the high-end vehicles to DCs and UNOs as gifts ahead of the parliamentary polls. They raised objections when the proposal was submitted to the finance division last month.

The ground scenario is that if government policymakers do not favour a plan, it never gets executed in time, no matter how crucial it is. In contrast, what they want is implemented quickly, irrespective of its urgency.

It becomes evident if the size of the Bangladesh delegation to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is compared with that of India and Pakistan.

The government claims that Bangladesh is making strides on the highway of development, but a phase of rain halts the lives of 1.5 million people in Dhaka as there is no effective drainage system.

On one hand, the government is struggling to provide subsidies to several sectors due to cash crunch, subsidies for the energy sector have been revoked, and prices of fertiliser, power, and water have been hiked in phases. On the other hand, it is importing luxurious vehicles for government officers, which appears not only contradictory but also suicidal.

As Professor Selim Raihan from Dhaka University's economics department aptly pointed out, "Acquiring new cars should not be a priority now as there is a persistent dollar crisis. The government usually does what should not be done and does not do what should be done. The funds for purchasing cars for DC-UNOs will neither fall from the sky nor grow from the soil. It will come from the hard-earned money of the people.”