PESHAWAR: No change as promised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seems to have taken place yet in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the provincial government has been unable to put an end to the ‘VIP culture’ because four expensive bullet-proof vehicles of the Chief Minister Secretariat have been allotted to irrelevant persons causing loss to the public exchequer.
Sources in the CM Secretariat told The News on Monday that the previous government had purchased four costly bullet-proof sport utility vehicles (SUVs). The vehicles were actually purchased for protocol duty and were reserved for the VVIPs and VIPs visiting the province.
The vehicles were put at the disposal of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. The sources said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak as announced by him was not using any of these vehicles.
The sources said that soon after oath-taking of Pervez Khattak, the personal staff of the chief minister asked the Administration Department to provide the vehicles to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. The sources added that the bullet-proof SUVs were later given to irrelevant persons, some of whom even claimed to be the relatives of the chief minister.
They said that only the Protocol Directorate and Chief Minister’s Secretariat had the entitlement for retaining these vehicles which have now been provided to some irrelevant persons.
The sources maintained the chief minister was preoccupied with the matters related to the formation of the government and might not be in the know as to who was using these pricey vehicles.
The sources said this could be the handiwork of toady officials who are posing ‘more loyal than the king’ to appease those close to the chief minister so that they could protect them in times of need. The sources said that some ministers and officials of the Ameer Haider Hoti-led government had retained vehicles beyond their entitlement. No action has been taken against these officials.
They also referred to another fleet of cars being provided to the members of the KP Public Service Commission.
The sources added that these cars of 1300cc and 1000cc worth Rs10 million had been purchased by the caretaker government despite the ban placed by the Administration Department on the purchase of new cars as part of the government’s austerity drive. These include four 1300cc cars worth six million rupees and four Rs1000cc cars costing four million rupees.
The sources added last year the Finance Department had also purchased vehicles worth eight million rupees for the Public Service Commission. They said the vehicles were not needed at all as the members pf the commission were supposed to replace their official cars in December.
