The Election Commission has decided to procure around 50 vehicles for two election commissioners, officials and employees of secretariat and field-level officials ahead of the next parliamentary polls.
The procurement proposal was approved at the commission meeting yesterday with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad in the chair, officials said.
The list of vehicles includes cars, jeeps and minibuses.
Four election commissioners, secretary, representatives of finance and public administration ministries and concerned officials attended the meeting.
EC Secretary Muhammed Sadique on Wednesday said there are shortages of vehicles.
Of five commissioners, the commission is yet to provide two of them with transportation facilities.
On the other hand, officials and employees of the secretariat used alternative transports for their commute because of vehicular crises, he also said.
The EC secretary maintained that only 19 of 64 districts were under transportation facilities. Except 19 districts, election officers of the rest of the districts used public transport to go to their workplaces.
The commission secretariat had eight cars for its officials, but some expressed grievances that they did not get transportation facilities, said sources in the EC.
The commision’s field-level officials also faced difficulties in carrying out their duties because of shortage of vehicles.
As per the procurement proposal, election officers at district and upazila level require vehicles to visit places for the purpose of monitoring.
The Election Commission has now four microbuses for 48 officials and 205 employees. Only 56 of them enjoy transportation facilities.
