DHANGADHI: As many as nine vehicles purchased by Sudur-Paschim Province government for district police offices have not been distributed yet.

The delivery of the purchased vehicles has been delayed at a time when police offices are facing problems in their operation due to lack of adequate vehicles and poor condition of those they possess.

The provincial government has bought a total of nine vehicles for nine district police offices in Sudur-Paschim Province.

The vehicles, purchased from the budget allocated in previous fiscal year 2018/19, have been kept on the premises of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law for two months and are yet to be handed over.

It has been reported that a proposal has been submitted to the meeting of the provincial council of ministers. According to secretary at MoIAL, Krishna Bahadur Raut, the vehicles would be handed over to the district police chiefs once the meeting makes a decision to the effect.

He said the procedure has been delayed as the provincial government has not drafted any bill related to the province police yet. The provincial government had allocated budget in order to purchase new vehicles for the DPOs in the previous fiscal year. Moreover, the council of ministers will hand over the vehicles after the decision is made as the police offices would remain the same even after the formation of province police.

Secretary Raut opined that police offices would be equipped to perform their tasks efficiently once the purchased vehicles -- which are of the same model as the ones presently being used by the police -- are handed over.

It has been reported that police personnel in various hilly districts are compelled to carry out duties without vehicles. The DPOs have been using vehicles which were provided during the Constituent Assembly election in 2013. Majority of those vehicles are said to be either in poor condition or totally damaged.