Receiving a special car for official business is one of the many perks that come with being a government official. On this note, the UK government makes sure that its official cars are environmentally friendly and not being misused as it tries to cut costs.
According to former UK Minister of State for Transport Chris Heaton, the UK government allocated a total of 45 cars in the government’s entire car pool for all ministries and departments. Only the Prime Minister of the UK received a dedicated car.
2020 Reports state that the UK cabinet office used seven cars. Both the Home Office and the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had four cars.
As per the details, 48% of the Government Car Service (GCS) fleet runs on either battery-electric, petrol/electric hybrid or hydrogen.
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Interestingly, the UK government does not consider travel from home to office and back an official duty. It demands that ministers arranged their own transport — by use of bus, cycle or train. Therefore, the UK government allocated a low number of cars for official use.
This is in stark contrast to Pakistan. According to reports, Sindh alone has around 25000 vehicles for government vehicles. However, there were claims that only 11,000 to 12,000 vehicles were useable.
Moreover, earlier this month, Minister for Information Sindh Saeed Ghani revealed that the Sindh government banned the purchase of vehicles. However, the Sindh government approved 152 vehicles and 50 motorcycles for Judiciary.
He said that the cabinet also approved a grant of Rs. 36 crore for the purchase of vehicles and motorcycles.
Punjab govt buying 46 new cars for ministers
On the other hand, on January 4, 2022, Punjab government issued formal order for buying new cars for provincial ministers and in this connection will be making an advance payment to a car manufacturer for purchasing 46 vehicles.
Moreover, the Punjab Cabinet Committee approved payment for purchasing news cars. The provincial government reportedly released a total of Rs 210 million in this connection. The ministers will get new vehicles and old vehicles will be kept in the transport pool.
As for KPK, in September 2021, reports emerged that the KP government approved the purchase of 111 vehicles for provincial government officials. This included seven SUVs.
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Sources said that KPK government will procure new vehicles for sub-divisional officers including chief engineers, sub-engineers, and executive engineers of the communications department at a cost of Rs600 million.
Important to note, officials have been accused of misusing government cars. To clarify, provincial ministers used more than one car for their personal use.