GUJRAT, Nov 9: A van donated by the Unicef and a jeep by the World Bank to the defunct district council are rusting away in its lawns for the past several years with many of their vital parts have either been stolen or perished, showing indifference of the officials concerned.

These vehicles were abandoned after being declared ‘mechanically unfit’ around six years ago, but could not be disposed of owing to a ban on selling donated vehicles. However, now such a ban has been lifted and the district government has moved the provincial government to shed these vehicles and an approval in this connection is in the pipeline. The vehicles, once having market value equivalent to hundreds of thousands of rupees, have now turned into scrap and will be sold merely on throwaway prices.

The Unicef had donated a hiace van to the district council’s health department around ten years ago and the health officer extensively used this vehicle to visit health centres across the district.

However, the van started depreciating rapidly owing to a lack of proper maintenance and rehabilitation and eventually it was dumped in the rear lawn of the council’s office within next couple of years.

After the implementation of the devolution of powers plan and promulgation of the district governments system in 2001, the vehicle became the property of the district health department, but no body attended to it.

An official of the department said that according to the rules, only 10 per cent of the total value of the vehicle could be spent on its maintenance and that ceiling had already been consumed and that’s why it could not be maintained any more and instead abandoned. He said the van would now be auctioned as a scrap.

When contacted, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Riaz Cheema denied that the van had been dumped because of negligence on part of the department.

He said earlier donar agencies had banned selling vehicles donated by them but now the government had allowed auctioning such vehicles along with government-owned vehicles, which had been declared ‘mechanically unfit’.

Dr Cheema said a report had been sent to the provincial government to obtain approval to dispose of such vehicles but the procedure was quite lengthy. He said that under the new policy, a list of such vehicles had also been sent to the district coordination officer to arrange their auction.

The jeep, which had been used by an assistant director of the local government department for couple of years, is also lying in a derelict state next to the hiace van. Most of its vital parts including the engine have been stolen.

An official of the local government office also seconded the views of the DHO and said the vehicle would be auctioned following obtaining an approval.

Another official told this scribe that the district council would also auction its vehicles, which had identically been abandoned for the past many years.