Earlier, the finance ministry had approved the purchase of more luxury cars for government officials. On 1 August, a directive from the ministry stated that cars worth up to 14.5 million taka could be purchased for government officials, compared to the previous limit of 9.4 million taka. Further, the expenditure limit has increased in line with the vehicle prices at various stages.
Abul Hasnath Humayun Kabir, Transport Commissioner, Government Transport Department, informed Prothom Alo that during national elections, Deputy Commissioners act as Returning Officers, and UNOs act as Assistant Returning Officers. This increases the demands of mobility. As a result, the request for new cars has gone up. It aims to replace vehicles older than 13 years with new vehicles.
Considering the ongoing political crisis regarding elections, the suggestion of the Election Commission to buy new vehicles seems impractical. Is there any information available with the Election Commission to indicate whether the vehicles assigned to DCs and UNOs for election duty are inoperative or not? If they (EC) have such information, how many of them are out of the information?