Rs 2-crore brake on Haryana govt’s austerity drive

Interestingly, this largesse comes less than a month after the Haryana Government’s stern orders to the Finance Department, asking it to slash expenditure on repair and maintenance of vehicles belonging to public sector enterprises. The guidelines issued by the Bureau of Public Enterprises on July 2 call for ‘‘a cut of 10 per cent on office expenses, repair and maintenance of vehicles, etc’’. The order also advocates steps to ensure ‘‘the fleet of vehicles is reduced by 10 per cent where the number of vehicles is more than five.’’

The turnaround is quite in line with the government’s approach to ministerial vehicles. Soon after coming to power in February 2000, the CM had disposed of the Contessas, the hand-me-downs from the previous government, and ushered in Ambassadors, all in the name of penny-pinching. But this soon gave way to some serious spending when Chautala decided to phase out the Ambassadors, making way for the upmarket Balenos.

A year and 5,000 out-of-job employees later, it’s time for another change of wheels. And this time, the beneficiaries will include not only the Cabinet ministers, but also the Political Adviser to the CM, who happens to be the president of the state’s Indian National Lok Dal, the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary.

The 18-odd Sonata Golds will set the cash-strapped state back by almost Rs 2 crore, but no one is grumbling, least of all the ministers. ‘‘I don’t know why this hoo-ha over such a trivial issue of choosing a vehicle which is more cost-effective,’’ says a minister. The Balenos, say sources, will be handed down to a band of select bureaucrats. There will be no change of wheels for the CM, he will continue to travel in his white Mercedes.