33 additional collectors get high-end SUV's from KCR amid financial crisis in state

Hyderabad: Additional collectors of the 33 districts in Telangana state who attended Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's review meeting at Pragathi Bhavan were in for a pleasant surprise on Sunday. After the meeting, the Chief Minister handed over brand new Kia Carnival SUVs to each of them.

Official sources said each SUV cost over Rs 30 lakh and nearly Rs 10 crore was spent to purchase 33 SUVs at one go. The transport department purchased the SUVs on the directions of the Chief Minister.

While the meeting was on at Pragathi Bhavan, the fleet of 33 SUVs arrived outside the Chief Minister’s camp office and was parked on its sprawling premises.

The Chief Minister gave a small break to the meeting in between and examined the SUVs along with a few ministers and senior officials. He expressed satisfaction over the SUVs and asked the officials to hand over them to additional collectors after the meeting.

Later, transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar flagged off the vehicles and formally handed them over to additional collectors.

A festive atmosphere prevailed at Pragathi Bhavan as additional collectors thanked the Chief Minister for giving them the unexpected and expensive gift. The reason for their jubilation was that no one expected the Chief Minister to offer this high-end car in these difficult times when the state government is facing severe financial crisis due to Covid outbreak since March 2020.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister is learnt to have justified his decision saying additional collectors deserved high-end cars to travel the entire district and discharge their duties effectively.

The government had earlier provided Toyota Fortuners to district collectors and joint collectors in 2015 at a cost of Rs 5.25 crore. At that time, the state had just 10 districts, which were now reorganised to 33 districts. High-end cars were provided to collectors of new districts later.