The age-old Ambassador cars have got a quite burial,at least,as far as the state government is concerned. It has been replaced by Toyotas,Hondas,Tatas and Marutis as the official mode of transportation of government functionaries. The reason: Ambassadors not only consume more fuel but its maintenance charges are also very high. According to sources,a recent letter by the state transport commissioner has directed all officers and departments that from now on,while the chief secretary will travel in a Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8 G,officers at the level of CS and principal secretary to the chief minister will get Honda City 1.5 VMT or SX-4 ZXI (top models) as their official cars. On the other hand,principal secretaries,financial commissioners and administrative secretaries will get either Honda City 1.5 SMT or SX-4 VXI or Toyota Innova 2.5 G (seven-seater diesel AC). The head of departments will get to travel either in SX-4 VDI or Swift Desire (Diesel) or Tata Indigo (Diesel) XL or Ambassador. The letter had also stated that divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners will get SX-4 (Diesel) VDI or Toyota Innova 2.5 G (seven-seater diesel AC) rather than Ambassadors for travelling purposes. At present,the chief minister and deputy chief minister travel in bullet-proof Mitsubishi Monteros. According to the new decision,while two new BP Land Cruisers have been added to the CMs fleet,all MLAs will now get Toyota Innovas as their official cars. Punjab Police officers all DGPs,ADGPs,IGPs and DIGs have been given Toyota Fortuners and Innovas. While state police chief Anil Kaushik has a Fortuner and ADGP-cum-Chief Director (Vigilance) SS Saini a bullet-proof Fortuner,the police department has now decided to provide all SSPs with Innovas. Mohit Pratap Singh,Director of Premier Motor Garage the only authorised dealer of Ambassadors in the city said: At present,we sell around 15 Ambassadors per month. Of these,12 go in the government sector and rest to private individuals,mostly NRIs and retired officers. Four years ago,we used to sell around 60 cars.
