No more car seva in cash-strapped state

A senior state official said the government would also consider giving the bureaucrats soft loans for the purchase of cars and then deduct the amount from their salaries. Maharashtra is currently grappling with a severe revenue crunch that has forced the state administration to delay employees’ wage settlements and curb development expenditure.

A senior official said this proposal of the State Finance Department was discussed at length at a high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister on administrative reforms.

“We discussed the proposal and it will be implemented in phases. Initially, cars provided to officials attached to Mantralaya would be withdrawn, to be followed subsequently by cars of officials at the divisional and district headquarters,” the official said.

According to a comprehensive proposal, drafted by Principal Secretary Ashok Khot, the cost per vehicle per month is more than Rs 32,000. “Khot’s note on options in the event of official vehicles being withdrawn is very comprehensive. He has calculated the cost per vehicle per month on the basis of the cost of petrol, maintenance as well as salary of the driver,” the official said.

Elaborating on the proposal, the official said the salary of a driver per month is Rs 7,000. Besides, he also receives Rs 20,000 per year by way of overtime and other allowances and Rs 1,000 towards uniforms. Secondly, the expenditure on petrol per vehicle per month was Rs 9,000 and annual cost of maintenance was Rs 5,000.

“Thus the annual cost per vehicle is Rs 3.72 lakh,” the official pointed out, adding, Khot has therefore proposed that if an official was given a conveyance allowance of Rs 15,000 per month instead, the Government would be saving at least Rs 17,000 per vehicle. A Finance Department official said if the proposal was implemented in letter and spirit, the Government would save at least Rs 200 crore per year.

“If the proposal is accepted, the Government would not hesitate to consider a proposal of a soft loan for officials to buy the car and the same will be deducted from the salary,” he added.

Secondly, the official said, there was yet another proposal of sharing cars among senior bureaucrats. “We feel that the Government can create a car pool so that the needy officials can share the cars,” he remarked.

Currently, 80 per cent of Mantralaya and divisional and state headquarters officials are not required to move in the field, as a result of which their cars and drivers are almost idle. Under such circumstances, number of cars can be reduced and the same would be used during an emergency, the official added.

As per official records, the Public Works and Irrigation Departments have the largest number of cars, even more than the home department. “The first cut will have to be imposed on the Pubic Works and Irrigation Department, so that additional funds will be available for developmental works,” the official said.