Chief minister Siddaramaiah has given the green signal to purchase 33 hybrid Hycross vehicles from Toyota, which will cost the exchequer about Rs 10 crore in all.
Said to be the world’s first fully ethanol-powered car equipped with a flex-fuel engine, the model was launched recently. The government placed an order after the August 29 launch.
BJP has slammed the Congress government for focusing on buying high-end cars for ministers when the state is reeling under drought conditions.
While Siddaramaiah was already allotted a Toyota Fortuner about two months ago, the 4G exemption clause is being invoked to purchase the new cars for the ministers, as per an order issued on August 17.
The order says: “Toyota Kirloskar motor company, Bengaluru, will be approached directly with exemption under section 4G of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act of 1999 through the department of personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR). For good quality services under acceptable rates, DPAR is vested with the powers to procure them.”
As per KTPP Act, 4G exemption is sought by the government each time there is a “natural calamity or emergency declared by the government…in respect of specific procurements, as may be notified by the government from time to time.”
According to government sources, the decision to procure new vehicles was taken based on a norm that the vehicle should have run either 1 lakh kilometres or completed three years on the road. “Since three years, no vehicle has been purchased for ministers. The last one was bought in 2020 during the tenure of former CM BS Yediyurappa,” said government officials.
DAPR officials said the decision of procuring new vehicles is something of a “convention” whenever a new government comes to power. “When we have new ministers, it is a convention that the CM authorises purchase of new vehicles for comfortable travel of ministers across the state,” said a DPAR official.
BJP MLA CN Ashwath Narayan criticised the move. “The government is facing problems related to funds and should be more responsible when it comes to such expenses. The government has completed 100 days but is still struggling to arrange funds to take up development works,” he alleged.
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