Don’t park personal cars in Vikasa Soudha, officials told

BENGALURU: At a time when Bengalureans are struggling with lack of parking space, senior bureaucrats working in the secretariat have been parking their personal vehicles on the Vikasa Soudha premises for years.
An internal inquiry conducted by the department of personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR) found a sizeable number of bureaucrats, including IAS officers, secretaries and deputy secretaries, were using the spacious Vikasa Soudha parking garage to park their personal vehicles overnight. Result: Government-owned vehicles, which were to be parked inside the garage, were forced to park on the streets or just inside the secretariat compound. According to government officials, most of the senior bureaucrats who owned more than one car or were using government vehicles on a regular basis would park their personal cars in the Vikasa Soudha garage for nights together.
The garage has three levels of parking area, and most of these vehicles were said to be parked on the first or third level.
On realising the misuse, the DPAR earlier this year said the secretariat should be vacated of personal vehicles after working hours. The April 15 order read: “It has come to the government’s notice that several senior bureaucrats are parking their personal vehicles overnight inside Vikasa Soudha premises. With an intent to safeguard the premises, this order is being issued to vacate the secretariat of personal vehicles after working hours. Police have been authorised to tow the vehicles of bureaucrats if found parked overnight.” The order could not be implemented earlier due to the model code of conduct in force during the Lok Sabha elections.