At a time when the government has undertaken austerity measures to reduce public spending, it is going to purchase 261 Sport Utility Vehicles for deputy commissioners and Upazila Nirbahi Officers ahead of the national election.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, presided by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, yesterday approved the Tk 381-crore procurement under Direct Procurement Method (DPM), a highly-placed source at the Cabinet Division told The Daily Star.

Traditionally, the finance ministry holds a press conference where an additional secretary of the cabinet division briefs reporters about any decision. There was no press conference in this case.

On Tuesday, finance ministry officials announced in their official Facebook messenger group that they would brief reporters. But yesterday, they informed that the briefing was cancelled due to "unavoidable" circumstances.

"It is not clear why members of the public who will ultimately pay for this in hard currency are not being clearly informed what considerations have justified the decision at this critical time of depleting reserves," Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman told The Daily Star.

As part of an austerity measure, the finance ministry issued a circular in July, saying all types of vehicle purchase would remain suspended at government offices under the operation and development allocations in fiscal year 2023-24.

Each of the vehicles -- Mitsubishi Pajero Sport QX -- would cost Tk 1,45,84,500, taking the total spending to Tk 381 crore.

Of the 261 vehicles, 61 will be bought for the deputy commissioners. The rest 200 will be purchased for the UNOs.

DCs and UNOs play vital executive roles during elections. Usually, DCs function as returning officers while the UNOs assist them as assistant returning officers. 

Justifying the procurement, an official of the public administration ministry said the new vehicles are necessary to conduct mobile courts, maintain law and order and ensure undisrupted movement of officials involved in election duties, which is vital for holding a fair election. 

Iftekharuzzaman said, "There would be perhaps no reason to question the justifiability of this purchase decision if it was not in a context where austerity and frugality are the key words in public expenditure. To say the least, it represents a failure to practice what is being preached.

"Whether it is intended to upscale the degree of appeasement of the relevant officials against the backdrop of national election or whether it is part of routine administrative cost, what needs to be borne in mind is that in any case it is going to add to the burden of ordinary taxpayers who are already overwhelmed by impacts of the financial crisis that has led to the austerity call."