1 vehicle per official, each with GPS: Govt

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government has asked all its officers to use only one official vehicle and get GPS tracking devices installed in all its vehicles.

The direction, issued to all heads of departments by the government’s general administration department (GAD), also stated that no vehicle would be allowed to run from September 1 without a GPS device.

VINAY SHARMA, Hotel employee

In March this year, following chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s directives, all principal secretaries and secretaries were asked to provide details of vehicles in their departments and the expenditure incurred on each vehicle.

“It has come to the notice of the government that many officers are using more than one official vehicle on the ground and that they are holding additional charges… It is, therefore, ordered that the entitled officers shall use only one government vehicle irrespective of the number of charges they are holding,” the order read, adding that many officers are using government vehicles for their personal work.

Allotment of vehicles to an entitled officer will be done through executive order by name so that responsibility can be fixed in case of misuse, the GAD order stated, adding that tracking devices should be installed in all government vehicles including those of corpora- tions, boards and all other government agencies.

The government has ordered that a software should be developed to link log book generation with the movement of vehicles tracked by GPS.

In its order issued August 24, the GAD sought a compliance report by September 1, saying it would be the responsibility of the respective heads of departments, corporation, board and other government agencies to ensure its compliance.