No pictures of CM on 108 ambulances: Punjab govt issues notification

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh (File Photo) 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has ordered immediate steps to ensure that the photograph of the Chief Minister is not carried on ‘108’ ambulances. Amarinder’s predecessor and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had faced criticism during his tenure and had to forgo central grant to go ahead with his pictures on ambulances, which are partly funded by the Centre.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had rapped the Punjab government for forgoing central grant under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) on account of its refusal to remove Badal’s pictures from the emergency ambulances.

In its 2015 report, CAG had said that Punjab had lost out Rs 23.8 crore of central grant for ambulances over three fiscals from 2012 over its failure to follow a prescribed uniform colour code of the NRHM.

Amarinder, on Monday, ordered a fresh notification to ensure that no pictures of the Chief Minister are carried on the ambulances in future. Amarinder’s pictures were not put on the ambulances ever since Congress government took over. The government called it another step against VIP culture.