Bangalore:
Come Thursday and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will have 12 white-coloured Ambassador cars for its standing committee chairmen. The Palike took the decision despite pressure from chairmen of some standing committees, who for their official use, preferred luxurious and expensive cars to the simple, yet sturdy Ambassadors.
BV Ganesh, chairman of BBMP's standing committee on education, said that a few chairmen had asked for Hyundai Verna, Toyota Innova and other high-end cars. "It is not the luxury that they had demanded but physical comfort. But ultimately, all preferred the Ambassador," he said. Standing committee chairman for ward-level works L Srinivas said he was happy with the decision of purchasing the Ambassador cars. "I too have an Ambassador car and I like it very much. As we only use the official car for travelling within the city, and use personal car for outside, purchasing expensive cars is not necessary," he said.
Sources in the BBMP confirmed that the cars, each estimated to cost Rs.5.5 lakh, will be delivered on Thursday. When contacted, BBMP commissioner Siddaiah said that as the Palike was in financial crunch, it was unfair to purchase expensive cars for the chairmen. "There were suggestions for the purchase of expensive cars, but we decided to buy Ambassadors as it is cheap and reliable. When I assumed the charge of commissioner, there were a lot of private cars which were being hired and crores of rupees were spent every year. I cancelled hired vehicle, including commissioner's vehicle, which were unnecessary used and saved lakhs of rupees for the Palike," Siddaiah said.
However, a few months ago both mayor SK Nataraj and deputy mayor N Dayanand who used to travelling in Hyundai Verna, replaced it with luxurious Toyota Corolla Altis cars which are priced at almost `14 lakh. There were instances when the mayor's official Verna broke down while travelling for important functions.
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