May 08, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

LAHORE, May 7: The Punjab government has ‘recovered’ 180 vehicles being used by different departments on one pretext or another despite a warning by the chief secretary.

The departments had initially surrendered 158 vehicles after the chief secretary introduced the policy under which an administrative secretary or head of the department could have only one vehicle up to 1,300cc, additional secretary to use a car up to 1,000cc, and a deputy secretary up to 800cc.

Official sources said on Wednesday that another 180 vehicles had been withdrawn from the provincial departments after scrutiny of the lists provided by them, and also through physical inspection.

They said the departments had now been asked to surrender the ‘detected’ vehicles within two days, following which another scrutiny would be conducted to ensure the implementation of the chief secretary's policy in letter and spirit.

The retrieved vehicles were being parked at the Ferozepur Road head office of the defunct Lahore Omnibus Service. These vehicles would be auctioned by a committee, which would soon be announced after approval by the chief minister.

The sources said as per provincial authorities’ directions, the district governments had also started preparing lists of extra vehicles under their use, which too would be auctioned.

They said the local government department had been asked to check as to how the extra vehicles with the district governments could be retrieved and auctioned. Under the local government ordinance, the vehicles were the property of the district governments and it would have to be seen whether these could be auctioned at the provincial level or the district level.

Representatives of the provincial government would in any case supervise the auction even if it was to be held at the district level to avoid any legal hitch, they added.

The officials said the 65 vehicles surrendered by the chief minister's office would be auctioned at the 8-Club Road secretariat where they were being parked for the purpose. These included luxury bulletproof vehicles.

They said all cars would be disposed of separately through open auction only after announcements through newspapers, and giving an opportunity to the prospective buyers to inspect the vehicles.

When asked as to why the government was going to sell the vehicles, they said they were an unnecessary burden on the provincial kitty. "You know withdrawal of 400 vehicles means saving a monthly Rs5 million fuel," they said.