Hyderabad: Hiring 319 additional vehicles for the GHMC administrative staff needlessly is costing the Corporation Rs 80 lakh per month towards maintenance. As per rules, government vehicles are provided to officials in the field, and not to officers on desk with fixed timing.

According to records, about 101 government vehicles are to be allotted in GHMC for field officers. But as per information furnished by the executive engineer (transport wing), at present, the corporation has hired an additional 319 vehicles for non-field work staff.

About Rs 25,000 is paid for every vehicle’s rent, and Rs 79,75,000 lakh is the cost of maintenance per month. Very rarely are staffers, who work on fixed timings in offices, provided with government vehicles.

Writing to the chief secretary, M. Padmanabha Reddy, the secretary of the Forum for Good Governance, said, “Recently, the GHMC had launched a scheme called ‘driver-cum-owner’ where people (drivers) are provided with cars with government assistance and bank loans. The GHMC has also helped drivers become owners of cars. There is no reason to believe that to sustain this scheme, 319 cars are hired irrespective of the need, and thus wasting tax payers’ money. The government is requested to stop wastage of public funds, examine the expenditure and initiate action.”