All the 18 ministers in the Gujarat government will now be seen moving around in high-end Toyota Innovas the state Transport department has decided to purchase for them. The Innovas will be given to the Speaker of the state Assembly, the Leader of Opposition, the ruling BJP’s Chief Whip, the Deputy Chief Whip and the Whip.

“We have already placed an order with the car company for the purchase of 26 Innovas in a phased manner. In fact, the company has already delivered 11 vehicles. The others are expected to arrive by April this year,” said a senior official in the Transport Department.

The official told Newsline on Saturday that though the original cost of each car was Rs 9.34 lakh, the department has purchased it at a concessional rate of Rs 8 lakh after some hard bargaining with the car dealer. He said 23 of these luxury vehicles will be allotted to the ministers and the remaining three will be kept as stand-by.

The Innova fleet will be the fifth replacement of cars in the state government. The Ambassador was the first marque to be introduced in the state in 1960 when Gujarat came into being. Subsequently, luxury models like Contessa, Cielo and Chevrolet were purchased for the ministers.

In 2004, the Modi government replaced the Cielo with the swanky Chevrolet Optra, manufactured by General Motors — the US car maker which has a manufacturing unit at Halol in Panchmahals district. The Optra was purchased for Rs 6.25 lakh — about Rs two lakh less than the price of an Innova.

A senior mechanic attached to the Government Transport Service (GTS) that looks after the repair and maintenance of VVIP cars, said: “The Optra gave a mileage of 12 to13 km per litre, as against the Toyota Innova, which gives an average of 8 kmpl. The Innovas being purchased by the government will be a petrol variant and will be bigger in size than the Optra. It will be a costlier proposition as far as fuel consumption and maintenance is concerned.”

When queried, he said, “The department has to go for the Innova, as it is a government decision.”