Government losing income on abandoned vehicles

According to government rules, a vehicle which has served 10 years or covered 2 lakh km, whichever comes first should be condemned. But officials  realise that as replacements will take time to arrive if they follow the government stipulation, they continue to use such vehicles, with officials in many cases spending money from their own pockets to ensure the road worthiness of these vehicles.  

Sources revealed that Vellore Collector SA Raman ordered that such condemned and disused vehicles in the Collectorate campus be auctioned, when he came across them during an inspection of  the premises a few months ago in the wake of a Karuvelan tree clearance drive. This resulted in the Collector’s PA(General) issuing a circular to all departments in the campus asking them to initiate action to auction the vehicles. However, most departments, sources revealed, were unable to obey the district head’s order as the Chennai government workshop which does the auctioning, has not heeded their requests. 

Officials said getting clearance for the vehicles from the local Regional Transport Officer (RTO) and the district government workshop was enough to ensure that all details were forwarded to the Chennai office, where they would be placed before bidders during the auction. Once the auction was over, the successful bidder would pick up the vehicle from the district concerned. However, as this has not been done for quite some time, vehicles rot in the Vellore Collectorate and the former District Development Council(DDC) office on Anna Salai. The more they lie abandoned, the more they lose their value, which in turn deprives the government of an assured avenue of income, said sources.