Pb officers to bear own expenses if travel beyond limit in pvt

Days after Punjab government decided to hire private vehicles for its officers touring the field areas to cut down on expenses, it today said the officers will have to bear their own expenses if they travel beyond the stipulated limit.
In detailed instructions issued for hiring private vehicles for all government offices, PSUs, semi-government bodies and others, the government said it will hire private vehicles for officers and new vehicles would not be issued to them anymore, a release said.
As per the notification, only those government departments and other undertakings would be eligible to hire vehicles where the government vehicle has been sold after condemning it and the concerned officer has no vehicle.

"The concerned department can hire equivalent vehicle from the market on condition that no other vehicle has been purchased or got sanctioned against the condemned vehicle," it said.
The upper limit for travelling for officers has been fixed at 2,000 km per month, it said.
"In case of crossing the limit, the concerned officer will have to pay from its own pocket," it added.

Keeping in view the jurisdiction of officers of certain categories, the upper travelling limit has been kept for Deputy Commissioner at 2500 Km per month, for ADCs/ SDMs/ tehsildars at 2200 km per month.
For IGP/Zonal, DIG/Range, SSP along with Secretary, Transport, Regional Transport Authority, DTO, Flying Squad In-charge Officer, Divisional Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Enforcement Officer (not less than ETO level), ETO (Excise) posted in district, DSP/Sub-division, the travelling limit has been kept at 2350 km per month.

Punjab government had recently decided that it would hire private vehicles for its officers touring the field areas, an austerity measure adopted by it in order to cut down on the huge transportation expenses.
The state government had estimated that the cost of running a government vehicle is about Rs 74,000 per month whereas the cost of operating a private vehicle is about Rs 40,000 per month.
No officer could retain more than one vehicle and in case of violation, the officer would be responsible to bear the cost of other vehicle from his pocket, the notification said.
It also directed that the hired vehicles should not be older than a year and should be hired through proper tendering as determined by the Punjab Finance Rules.

The hired vehicle would be allowed four off days to undertake necessary service or repair and these would preferably be Saturdays or Sundays. The duty timing limit would be 12 hours a day, it said.