After gathering dust for many years, the unused vehicles of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, parked on the office premises of District Health Officer (DHO) in Nazarabad here, have found some takers.
These vehicles, including ambulances and multi-utility automobiles, which had occupied a lot of space on the premises and become an eyesore, had been reduced to scrap.
Department authorities said the vehicles could not be used since they were beyond repair and had outlived their running time.
Some of these vehicles are over two decades old and declared flabby for use. The department had accordingly procured new vehicles after discontinuing their use.
A few days ago, on taking a special permission from the Commissioner of Health, the department put nine vehicles for auction but only six managed to get bidders and three did not go under the hammer for various reasons.
DHO Basavaraj admitted to The Hindu that the unused vehicles had become a nuisance and therefore special permission was sought to auction them.
However, there were not many bidders for the vehicles though the offer price was low, he said.
Sources said the maximum sum which a vehicle fetched in the auction was Rs. 40,000-plus. There was reluctance to bid for the vehicles. Besides 15 unused vehicles of which six had been auctioned, there are about eight unused vehicles in the taluks. The price for the vehicles selected for auction had fixed by the office of Rgional Transport Office.
After collecting 25 percent of the bid amount, the auction was formalised giving time to those who secured the vehicles for making the remaining payment, the sources add.
