Accusing the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh of a scam worth crores of rupees in using private vehicles, the Opposition Congress has demanded a Lokayuta inquiry to probe the case. The party alleged that the vehicles, not registered taxis, were used in government departments on excessive payments.
MP Congress Right To Information (RTI) Cell President Puneet Tandon claimed on Wednesday that the scam has been unearthed through official documents accessed from various departments through RTI.
According to a circular of the state finance department, officials are entitled to travel 1000 km each month in government vehicles. “However, some of the agreements with private vehicle owners are for 2000 km while some are even for 3000 km in different departments,” the Congress leader said.
“Moreover, there is no uniformity in departments about the rates being paid per kilometer to private vehicle owners in case of a vehicle’s use beyond the allowed travel limit,” Tandon said.
He further said, “The Public Works Department (PWD) is paying at the rate of Rs 9.90 per additional kilometer while the Water Resources Department is paying at the rates of Rs 16 and Rs 19.90 per extra kilometer for private vehicles on the use beyond the allowed kilometer limit.”
Tendon alleged that excessive payments have been made by the personal staff of ministers as well as by officials of various departments maximum for misuse of the private vehicles.
“On the one hand, the BJP Government is reeling under debts of crores of rupees and is continuously forced to take loan from the market to run its functioning, while on the other, there is such blatant misuse of the people’s money in the operation of private vehicles,” the Congress leader averred.
“We demand an inquiry by the Lokayukta or Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into this private vehicle scam and a thorough investigation of the process of private vehicle allocation and the bills and vouchers of payments made to the private vehicle owners,” he demanded.