New SUVs, procured for bureaucrats, are parked on HEC grounds in Ranchi on Wednesday.

Chief minister Raghubar Das will formally hand over the 253 vehicles to deputy commissioners, circle officers, block development officers, settlement officers, additional collectors, sub-divisional officers, land acquisition officers and other revenue officials at the venue on Thursday.

These vehicles have been procured by the state revenue, land reforms and registration department.

Ram Kumar Sinha, joint secretary of the department, said, "Around Rs 14 crore was allotted by the state government for the new vehicles. In the next fiscal, we expect to spend an additional Rs 9 crore for another set of new SUVs. This is the first time that our department has procured vehicles in such large numbers."

Text by Vijay Deo Jha; picture by Prashant Mitra