Dhaka South City Corporation caps officials' vehicle fuel at 250 litres a month

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has set a maximum fuel limit for vehicles allocated to its officials at 250 litres of petrol or octane, or 358 cubic metres of CNG, per month. The instruction came in an office order signed on Thursday by DSCC General Manager Md Moshiur Rahman Khan. The order, issued with the approval of the appropriate authority, takes effect immediately.

The decision came on the same day an investigative report was published on irregularities in how DSCC officials' vehicles were being allocated and using fuel at will. The DSCC authorities moved to act on officials' vehicle fuel allocations after the report appeared.

The office order said that since the city corporation has no fuel-use policy of its own, fuel use has been approved in line with a circular issued by the Ministry of Public Administration.

According to the investigative report, DSCC officials' vehicles were being allocated between 400 and 600 litres of fuel per month. Government instructions, however, set a limit of 200 litres per month for ordinarily entitled vehicles and a maximum of 250 litres for officials at the secretary level.

The investigation also found that some drivers sell off part of the excess allocated fuel. Some officials use the vehicles beyond official work, and there were even instances of ambulances meant for carrying patients being used to transport officials between home and office.

By one calculation, if the monthly fuel allocation for the vehicles of at least 76 DSCC officials is limited to 250 litres, the saving could be around Tk 2.45 crore a year.

While the report was being prepared, DSCC Administrator Abdus Salam said that even though the organisation has no policy of its own, the government's existing instructions must be followed and there is no scope to go beyond them. He also assured that the irregularities would be examined and action taken.