Govt vehicles being used for personal purposes

Lack of vehicles constrains officials of the food dIrectorate from performing their routine duties. The vehciles are, instead, being used by the food minister Qamrul Islam, secretary Mohammed Kaikobad Hossain and other senior officials of the food ministry, though they already have their own assigned vehicles.

Even the minister's and secretary's personal secretaries, the ministry's deputy secretaries and senior assistant secretaries are using vehicles meant for the directorate.

Some former officials are still availing the services of government appointed drivers, although they don't use the vehicles anymore. Officials of the food ministry and the food directorate have confirmed this.

District food controllers have complained about the shortage of transport to the director general. One such complaint came from the Shariatpur district food controller. The food controller of Chapainawabganj has a different problem. He said various government offices, including that of the district administration, have objected to his using a 37-year-old government car.

Prothom Alo investigations found that many officials and food controllers cannot go for Open Market Sales (OMS) rice collection, or to monitor food storage facilities, and other food programs due to lack of transport.

The food minister Qamrul Islam is using a sports car with a registration number, Dhaka metro-Gha-14-2160. He is also using another car with a registration number, Dhaka metro-Bha-11-1829. Secretary Kaikobad Hossain is using a Toyota Prado registered Dhaka Metro Gha-14-2146, while the private secretary to the food minister uses an SUV, Dhaka Metro Gha-14-1893. The assistant private secretary (APS) to the food minister is using an SUV with a number, Dhaka Metro Gha-14-2069, while PS to the secretary of the food ministry uses an SUV, Dhaka Metro Gha-14-1863. Public relations officer of the ministry of food uses a microbus with a registration number, Dhaka Metro Cha-51-1562.

Meanwhile, Molla Waheeduzzaman, former director general of the food directorate, who became senior secretary to the prime minister's office and was then given the position of chairman of the Privatisation Commission with the status of a state minister, is still availing the services of Abul Kalam Hawladar, a driver from the food directorate. When asked, Waheeduzzaman told Prothom Alo that Kalam had been working for him for a long time. "Sometimes I take him with me when visiting my village as he is very trustworthy," he said.

Another former director, Foyez Ahmed, who retired on 28 August in 2016, is still using a food directorate driver. Manobendra Bhoumik, a retired additional secretary, Mohsena Khanam, former deputy secretary of the food ministry, and AZM Ershad Ahsan Habib, retired PS to the state minister of social welfare ministry, are doing the same.

According to the 'Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers (Remuneration and Privileges) Act, 1973', only ministers are entitled to use government vehicles. The act was amended in 2016. According to that amendment, ministers are entitled to use transport pool vehicles. They are to be provided an SUV when travelling outside Dhaka. But Qamrul Islam uses the SUV in the capital city. He also uses a transport pool sedan.

When asked, Qamrul Islam told Prothom Alo, "Many of us use transport from the directorate office as the ministry does not provide a car. Almost everyone does so." He suggested contacting the director general of the directorate to ascertain whether it is disrupting routine work.

But the real picture is very different. District food controllers of Madaripur, Kishoreganj, Gopalganj, Faridpur, Munshiganj, Narshingdi, Rajbari, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Narail, Barguna, Jhalakati, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Feni face difficulties paying inspection visits to various food projects and programmes due to lack of transport. For example, Shariatpur district has six upazilas and the upazilas can be 25 to 30 kilometres apart. The district food controller has to inspect several food storage facilities after office hours. Most often he cannot go carry out the inspection due to lack of transport.

The directorate has more drivers than cars. So the drivers are sometimes made to drive the personal cars of the officials as well. One such driver said the officer was taking advantage of the situation for his personal benefit. “They are using government vehicles for their personal use, while the government is bearing the fuel costs.”

When asked why there were more drivers than existing cars, one of the directors of the directorate said that sometimes the vehilces were damaged and drivers then had nothing to do until a new ones were purchased.

Other government programs were also being affected due to this shortage of transport. Lack of adequate transport has hampered government projects like the OMS programme to control the price of rice following the floods in the haor areas.

Md. Badrul Hasan, director general of the food directorate, has asked officers who are not entitled to transport privileges, to return the vehicles to the directorate office. Senior officers have not responded to the directive. Badrul Hasan refused to comment on the irregularities in the allocation of government transport.

* This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat.