PESHAWAR, June 3: Misuse of vehicles at the provincial directorate of health has been affecting its field work, officials said on Tuesday.

They said that vehicles, either purchased by the federal government or donated by various international donor agencies, were seldom available to the field staff.

Officials, they say, kept vehicles for personal use, adding that in some cases, “blue-eyed” officials kept more than one vehicle while officials in the same grade and pay-scale were denied their use.

As a rule, they said, heads of various sections, who were supposed to do fieldwork, should be allotted official cars, but the situation was quite opposite, adding that vehicles were being used by officials sitting in offices, who had no field duties.

They said that there was no record of the number of vehicles in use of the department’s officials.

Despite several queries by the services and general administration department to submit a list of surplus vehicles for auction, the incharge of the transport department was apparently using delaying tactics in this regard.

Expressing their resentment, they said the record regarding the four vehicles sent by the administrations of the Swabi, Malakand, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan districts was missing. These vehicles had recently been donated to the districts, they added.

Criticizing the department’s warehouses, officials told Dawn that no spare parts were available with them.

They said that a few months ago a doctor had “lost” a double-cabin vehicle in the Cantonment area here, adding that instead of holding an inquiry into the matter and recover the vehicle, the doctor was given a new vehicle. No questions were asked and the matter was hushed up, they said.

Citing other such examples, they said the engines of vehicles, used by two doctors, had seized up. They said that the doctors in question had been given new vehicles and again, no questions were asked.

Another doctor, they said, spent — in violation of rules and regulations — R25,000 on repairs of his vehicle from funds of the Rollback Malaria project. These funds, they added, were exclusively meant to be spent on malaria prevention.

These officials said that the incharge of the transport department had three vehicles in his use, adding that one was in his personal use while the other two were nowhere in sight. Similarly, they said, another senior official was also using three vehicles simultaneously.

When contacted by this correspondent to comment, the incharge of the transport department told Dawn that the department had a total of 13 vehicles and all of them were being used by various officials.