BENGALURU: As part of his austerity measures, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has ordered his council of ministers not to
purchase new cars for official purposes, and instead use ones used by ministers in the previous government. As a result, ministers will have to choose from 37 cars that were purchased and used during the
previous Congress regime.
Sources say most of the 37 cars are
Toyota Innova Crystas and two Toyota Fortuners which were used by former chief minister Siddaramaiah. “They are all in running conditions and meet the criteria of being safe for ministers as none of them have crossed the threshold of three years or have run one lakh kilometres,” sources said.
Ministers from the previous Congress regime who are now part of the coalition government like K J George, D K Shivakumar, R V Deshpande, Priyank Kharge, Krishna Byregowda and UT Khader, have retained their old cars.
The decision not to buy new cars is estimated to save the exchequer a minimum Rs 7 crore as each minister is entitled to purchase a car worth a maximum Rs 21 lakh.
The DPAR allots a car each to the 33 ministers, and keeps four on standby for other cabinet rank or MoS rank officials. Food and civil supplies minister B Z Zameer Ahmad Khan has sought one of the Fortuners and DPAR officials say they have sent the request to Kumaraswamy for his approval.
