The government's austerity plan taken amid the ongoing economic slowdown has lost its ground to some extent as some of its high officials are allegedly misusing the car maintenance funds.
Many of the secretaries, project directors (PDs) and other civil servants are taking away the public money illegally, insiders in the government machinery have said, alleging that some of the officials use more than one car and take the maintenance costs violating the rules and policy.
Almost all the secretaries, many PDs and civil servants are taking Tk 50,000 for car maintenance although they are not entitled to enjoy it due to possessing two or more cars, according to an FE investigation.
The government spent Tk 3.52 million from the budget for the last fiscal year
(FY 2021-22) on car maintenance costs for the civil servants, who have purchased cars with the government loan.
The government in 2014 started providing interest-free car loans to each of the secretaries, additional secretaries, joint secretaries and deputy secretaries up to Tk 0.3 million, aimed at getting better public services.
It also offered Tk 50,000 per month as maintenance cost to each of the car-holders subject to some terms and conditions.
Currently, some 78 secretaries, 19 Grade-1 officers, 411 additional secretaries, 887 joint secretaries, 1,654 deputy secretaries, eight divisional commissioners, 10 additional divisional commissioners, and 64 deputy commissioners are working in the government.
The government offered car loans for the secretaries, Grade-1 posts, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, and the chiefs of different government agencies and offices.
Besides, the PDs use the cars from development projects for monitoring purposes.
According to the government policy, the high officials who have a car against his post and another car with the loan are not entitled to get Tk 50,000 as the maintenance cost.
For possessing two cars - one against his post and another under the loan - the civil servants are allowed to receive 50 per cent or Tk 25,000 per month for their car maintenance.
People concerned about the misuse say what the mid- and junior-level civil servants will learn from their seniors if they do not properly use the tax money, violating the policy that they are a big part of the formulation process.
The public expenditure comes from the consolidated fund of the budget. Data showed the government spent Tk 1.59 million in FY2019, Tk 2.12 million in FY2020, Tk 2.85 million in FY2021 and Tk 3.52 million in FY2022 against the car maintenance costs.
The FE investigation found that almost all the secretaries, PDs and civil servants, holding two cars at a time, are also taking Tk 50,000 per month for car maintenance.
Most of the secretaries use the government-provided car or cars, and also take motor vehicles from the development projects under their ministries. They keep their vehicles purchased with the interest-free loans idle at home or their family members use it for personal daily needs.
This correspondent has also found almost similar scenarios in cases of the PDs and other civil servants who possess two cars.
Transparency Internat-ional, Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman told the FE that the violation of the government rules and policy by the country's top executives is an abuse of power.
Taking Tk 50,000 by violating the government rules is clearly a misuse of the public money, he added.
During this austerity period when the country is struggling with a fund crisis, such a misuse of public funds is unacceptable, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said.
"In addition, if the seniors abuse their power and misuse the funds, what will the junior officers learn from them? And, what types of bureaucrats will the country get?"
The TIB Executive Director said: "I think there is a sort of irresponsibility among the oversight authorities like the Office of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) that resulted in such a misuse of the public funds."
Finance advisor to the last caretaker government Dr Mirza Azizul Islam said the supervisory authorities including the cabinet division, public administration ministry, finance ministry and CGA office should strictly oversee the issue to check the misuse of public money.
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