Bengaluru: “Don’t spend more than what you earn,” Mama always used to say, and sound advice it is for those willing to listen. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) however, doesn’t seem to have gotten this memo as, just recently they sent a proposal to the government for the purchase of 10 new cars for officials, two of which are luxury cars for senior officials.
What’s wrong with this picture you ask? Well, The BDA has been struggling to implement projects over the past few months. The reason? Non-availability of funds. Justifying their proposal for the purchase of new vehicles, the BDA has said that its officials will require the cars in order to visit government departments in the Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha numerous times. “Many of the cars used by the officials are very old, some being as old as 14 years. Such vehicles need to be disposed of for environmental reasons and also because their maintenance and repair costs run very high,” BDA commissioner, Rakesh Singh said. He also said that the cost of buying new cars is considerably lower than the cost of maintaining the older vehicles and added that the cars would be bought in batches.
Social activists however, have criticised this decision stating that the BDA should not squander money on new vehicles when they are staring at a cash crunch in the eyes. One of the activists said that such an expenditure of this magnitude would strain the state exchequer as this is also the time when new cars will have to be bought for the new ministers of the Kumaraswamy government. “At least 10 new cars will have to be purchased for the new JD(S) ministers since they will be coming to power after a span of 10 years. They will be insistent about getting new cars,” they said.
Officials have explained that travel firms’ services are used when their cars are out of commission, and that these firms are not always reliable as they are not always punctual and this can be a major issue especially when they need to go to the courts or when they have an appointment with senior government officials.
