Government officials' vehicle maintenance costs not to be halved

In the face of objections from officials, the government has backed down from its decision to halve the maintenance costs of vehicles purchased on interest-free loans by authorized government officials. The Finance Department on Thursday wrote to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, requesting that no action be taken on the two letters sent on July 9.

On July 9, the Finance Department sent two letters to the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration. In one letter, it asked the government officials to take initiatives to reduce the monthly car maintenance allowance of government officials who purchased vehicles on interest-free loans from Tk 50,000 to Tk 25,000. In the other letter, it asked the government officials to take steps to grant educational leave instead of giving them the opportunity to pursue post-graduate degrees in the country and abroad. The letter mentioned that there were instructions from the Prime Minister on both issues.

Authorized officials starting from the deputy secretary of the government and above get interest-free loans of Tk3 million at a time to purchase vehicles. On July 9, the Finance Department also issued a circular announcing its decision to suspend this loan facility for the time being.

A finance department official said that soon after the initiative to reduce the maintenance cost of cars by half was launched, officials raised objections and contacted various levels of the government to express their dissatisfaction. Currently, only BCS administration cadre officials get this facility, while the other 25 cadres are deprived of this opportunity—there is a long-standing dispute between the administration cadre and other cadre officials over this disparity.

Since 2011, the opportunity to buy cars on interest-free loans was introduced for joint secretaries, additional secretaries, secretaries and senior secretaries, and then the maintenance allowance was 25 thousand taka. Later, it was increased step by step and finally increased to Tk50,000. Since 2017, the same facility has been given to deputy secretaries by declaring them authorized officers. There are also long-standing allegations of misuse of this facility—many officials keep the cars purchased on interest-free loans for family use and use office or project cars, while some others earn extra income by renting out these cars and withdraw the entire amount of maintenance allowance.

Economist Mustafizur Rahman, Honorary Fellow of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), called the cost-cutting initiative positive and timely, but he warned that cutting the allowance alone is not a permanent solution to the spending crisis, but the main challenge is to stop the procrastination and waste of the Annual Development Program. In the face of objections from officials, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Public Administration on Thursday, where officials argued that there is no precedent in the past for any financial benefit to be increased and then reduced after being in the same salary structure for a long time. Ultimately, the government backed down from the decision in the face of these objections.