Dinesh Sarangi

MLA and former health minister

lI personally feel the government?s decision to purchase expensive cars for ministers is not correct. Logically, the decision is not worth from any angle. The state, even after four years of formation, is behind on a number of fronts and, therefore, the decision to give priority to purchase expensive cars for ministers is not an advisable step.

For a state like Jharkhand, the government should have given priority to education and health instead of spending Rs 15 crore on providing modern bullet-proof cars, which will not benefit the common people. If at all they had to make such extravagant purchases, they would have waited for at least a year, worked for the people and then gone for these cars.

I am sure then at least their good work would have made up for all these extra expenses.

VP Singh

Former president, Adityapur Small Industry Association

lIn a country like India where Mahatma Gandhi taught the principle of sacrifice for the good of others, the ministers are concentrating their efforts on meeting their own ends. The government should immediately review its decision to provide expensive cars to its ministers in the name of safety and stop depleting the exchequer.

There are less expensive cars in the market, which are equally good and fast. The good old Ambassadors can still be used to travel to villages and remote areas. I would also like to add that if the ministers really fear for their lives, they should quit politics and do something else because to serve others is not the work of a coward.

It just proves that they are scared of working in public for fear of their lives.

Asish Pani

Professor, XLRI

lI feel the decision is not completely unjustified. Jharkhand carries the legacy of its mother state, Bihar, and there is a perceptible threat to the life of at least some ministers. I believe the government should provide safe bullet-proof cars to at least the chief minister and some of his Cabinet colleagues who are on the target list of extremists.

Even the Ambassadors can be made bullet-proof, and that would not cost as much as the gizmo-fitted Boleros, Scorpios and Safaris.

Moreover, if we give some leeway to the ministers, it should not be made a rule for everyone since it is just making a hole in the public?s pocket.

A. Vijay Shankar

Student, Karim City College

lNo. In Jharkhand, about 54 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. Where there are people who cannot even afford a bicycle for themselves, it is near inhuman to have ministers who are using the coffers for expensive, ultra-modern cars. Ministers should go in for some retrospection and think for themselves and decide right from wrong.

Instead of procuring such expensive cars, they should continue using the Ambassadors. The huge amount of money being spent on these cars could have easily been utilised for something more important such as poverty-alleviation programmes.

This state is plagued with many social evils such as witchcraft and if the ministers take some concrete steps towards addressing this issue and spreading education, we would become a more modern state and then these cars would have fit the bill.

But as for today, the cars seem a complete misfit with all the riches concentrated just among a few.

Amita Khatri

An executive with a corporate house and a B-school student

lThere is no harm if the state goes in for ultra-modern cars as long as they do not lose out on administrative efficiency. I am definitely against all show and no work but if the ministers prove their worth they deserve the luxury of the vehicles.

Moreover, the cars can be used for special occasions to greet a VIP guest who comes to the state to invest.

Now that the ministers and their cars have been mired in so much controversy, they need to really work hard and prove that they deserved it.

In a positive light, these ultra-modern cars symbolise the progress of any state but had it been done after fighting poverty, it would have been appreciated by all and sundry. In fact, the vehicles gel with the image of the Famous Five that we have in our state.

But there is a need for them and the rest of the ministers to pull up their socks if they want to convince the public that the move was justified.

Anjali Bose

Social activist, Mahila Samanvay Samiti

lProcuring expensive cars is neither right nor necessary. Before elections, they move on the roads with the masses seeking votes for their constituencies and soon after holding ministries, they go for a complete crossover.

They promise to be with the people but how much can they relate to the masses if all they do is go to the backward areas in swanky cars, step out for a while and then get back to the airconditioned comfort. Let alone cars, these men also fought over ministries and bungalows.

It just shows the ministers are there to mint money and wield power for their own benefit and not for the public. The voters feel cheated when the ministers they have chosen are mired in such controversies and extravagance.

How can they ever understand the problems of the people if they continue to move around in cars that cut them off completely from the world and its actual problems?

All that extra money should be utilised to help facilitate projects that are just on papers and which could have helped the state to progress in real terms.