The government has initiated a move to procure 300 vehicles for the newly-promoted joint secretaries and also for divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners.
The public administration ministry has already sent a proposal to the finance ministry seeking approval for the purchase of cars and jeeps which would require over Tk57 crore, said officials.
The initiative came after a large-scale promotion to the levels of deputy secretary, joint secretary and additional secretary in excess of the approved posts in the civil bureaucracy.
Divisional commissioners of the seven divisions and deputy commissioners of 64 districts will also have an additional jeep each while the new joint secretaries, who are yet to get cars, would be provided with a sedan for their use, according to officials concerned.  
‘The government transport pool does not have an adequate number of vehicles for the newly-promoted joint secretaries although they are entitled to such facility. So we have taken an initiative to procure 300 vehicles,’ public administration secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told New Age on Thursday.
Each new car would cost Tk16 lakh while a jeep would cost around Tk30 lakh, he added.
The senior secretary said each divisional commissioner and deputy commissioner would get an additional jeep for VIP protocol. At present each of them uses a jeep round the clock.
Abdus Sobhan said the government had already decided to outsource around 200 drivers to the private sector for the new cars. ‘The process to outsource the drivers for the new cars is already at the final stage,’ he replied to a query.
An officer of the rank of joint secretary and above belongs to the ‘privileged group in the civil service and is entitled to 24-hour car facilities,’ but those below the rank of joint secretary are not entitled to such facilities, said an official at the public administration ministry.
In the biggest chuck of promotions in a single move in last three years of the Awami League-led government, 258 senior assistant secretaries on February 8 were promoted to deputy secretary, 264 deputy secretaries to joint secretary and 127 joint secretaries to additional secretary.
The government spends around Tk 35,000 against each car for driver, fuel charge and maintenance as each official is allocated 180
litres of fuel a month, said the official.
It has been reported that the government does not have any central mechanism to check misuse of its transport, especially the vehicles under various projects, allowing many officials and employees to avail themselves of transport facilities round the clock which they are not entitled to.