MoEF’s Toyota Fortuner goes back where it should have been

It is now learnt that on December 21, Sky Packers & Movers, New Delhi, was selected on the basis of a spot quotation for a Rs 44,000-contract to transfer the Fortuner (DL 3C CC 8068) to Bhubaneswar.

The Indian Express, 31 March, 2016

A Toyota Fortuner, being used in New Delhi by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar though it had been bought by SAIL for field inspection in Odisha by staff of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, was returned to Bhubaneswar within days of The Indian Express seeking comments from the minister last December.

The Indian Express had contacted Javadekar for comments on December 17, 2015. He sought time but neither he nor any official of his ministry replied and the report was published December 22.

It is now learnt that on December 21, Sky Packers & Movers, New Delhi, was selected on the basis of a spot quotation for a Rs 44,000-contract to transfer the Fortuner (DL 3C CC 8068) to Bhubaneswar.

The ministry did not share the file notings on the matter sought through an RTI application — it was filed on February 11 this year — but said the vehicle was “shifted out of Delhi with the approval of the competent authority”. A copy of the financial statement of the contract, obtained under RTI, stated that “spot quotations were invited after obtaining of (sic) approval of SO (GA)”. The SO (GA) refers to a section officer in the general administration division.

Neither Javadekar nor Environment Secretary Ashok Lavasa responded to emails sent Monday by The Indian Express.

In February 2015, the ministry, while granting forest clearance to SAIL’s Barsua iron mines in Odisha, asked the public sector undertaking for a vehicle that the ministry’s Bhubaneswar staff could use for field inspections.

Official records show that within four months, SAIL bought a Rs 20-lakh Toyota Fortuner for the ministry. But this SUV was not sent to the field office. It was delivered in New Delhi where it was being used by Javadekar.