It is said that what the ministers want are not implemented all the time but the wishes of bureaucrats never remain unfulfilled. The recent decision to buy 261 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for the deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers is proof of that.
Quoting the public administration ministry and the cabinet division, The Daily Star ran a report in this regard, mentioning that the cost has primarily been estimated at Tk 3.81 billion. This means, the average cost per SUV is Tk 14.6 million.
The price could go up further due to the recent devaluation of taka. Though state-run Pragati Industries would supply the vehicles, the necessary equipment for them will have to be purchased from abroad spending foreign currency.
Though the cabinet committee on government procurement gave an approval to the proposal to buy new vehicles on 11 October last year, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) sought to know its necessity from the public administration ministry. The PMO also asked about the condition of vehicles bought for various development projects of the government, the yardstick used for fixing the price of SUV, the number of vehicles for field level admin officials and their conditions.
The PMO gave an approval to the proposal after receiving explanations from the ministry on the questions, said the ministry sources.
The proposal said the SUVs are required for conducting mobile courts, protecting law and order and smooth movement of the officials involved in the election duties. In its primary proposal, the public administration ministry said about buying 96 SUVs for district administration and 365 SUVs for upazila administration. The finance ministry, however, recommended slashing the number. Later, the ministry sent a revised proposal to buy 261 SUVs.
Immediately before the last parliamentary election, the public administration ministry maintained that the new vehicles are necessary to complete the parliamentary election freely, to conduct mobile courts, and to ensure different types of services, including protecting law and order, at the field level uninterruptedly.
But we saw that the election was completed without the new vehicles. At least, the election did not face any obstacle because of the lack of those vehicles.
The field level officials need vehicles, this is undeniable. No one should have any objections to replacing older vehicles either. But the government policy makers must keep in mind that the financial condition of the country is not in a good shape. The economy of Bangladesh is going through different sorts of crises. In this context, importing new vehicles or their necessary equipment from abroad would put pressure on the forex reserve.
The government is speaking about replacing vehicles older than 13 years. It is not that vehicles of all the DCs and UNOs are 13 years older. In that case, the government could have gradually bought the vehicles.
People involved with the public administration ministry said that a number of vehicles have been lying idle as the relevant projects are completed. Those could also have been used for the DCs and UNOs.
We don’t think there is any rationality in buying 261 new vehicles at a time, especially when the country is not able to pay liabilities to many foreign companies.
Let the decision be reconsidered.