• Secy. Chandraguptha claims field officers with 5 yrs min. service permitted to take home vehicles post-retirement, DMT told to stop issuing revenue licences to ‘missing’ cars   

The Health Ministry, responding to the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) Chairman, State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna’s statement that the Auditor General's report shows that 1,794 vehicles of the Ministry have gone missing, claimed that the Ministry’s relevant field officers are allowed to take the vehicles given to them home upon retirement if they have a minimum of five-years of service in the Ministry.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (27), Ministry of Health Secretary Janaka Sri Chandraguptha said that there are 679 cars and 1,115 motorcycles among these vehicles, adding that, upon learning that most of those cars are not in the possession of the Ministry, a request has already been made to the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) to stop issuing revenue licences to them. “These motorcycles are given to the field officers under contract and they are allowed to take them after retirement. Most of these vehicles were registered from 1950 to 1996. Otherwise, these vehicles have not been misused or have gone missing,” he added.

Earlier, the COPA and Alagiyawanna noted that the Auditor General's report shows that 1,794 vehicles of the Ministry are missing. Alagiyawanna said that the report also stated that 259 vehicles of the Ministry have been handed over to external parties, adding that the Auditor General has also presented facts in his report about the deficiencies in the data system related to vehicle administration. He instructed the officials to take immediate steps to prevent the misplacement of vehicles.