Indian National Lok Dal, Haryana’s main Opposition on Sunday alleged that there are irregularities to the tune of hundreds of crores in the purchase of medicines in Government hospitals in the State.
The party has demanded a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation in the matter.
INLD’s Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala alleged that norms have been violated in the purchases made at the district level by the concerned officials over the past three years.
Over the past one year, the INLD has gathered information from the five districts of Rewari, Hisar, Faridabad, Rohtak and Jind through the RTI, said he while talking to the mediapersons here.
He alleged that the scam in these districts is pegged to be at Rs125 crore.
“We have sought replies to our RTI queries from all the 22 districts, but today we are presenting before the media the information we have collected from the five districts. According to our estimates, the total scam would be well over Rs300 crore,” said he.
We demand a CBI inquiry into the scam, Chautala said.
According to the Haryana Government, anything that has to be bought has to be purchased from a centralised quotation, which is approved by the State Government and forwarded to various districts, he said.
Hisar MP alleged, “There is a centralised purchase committee for buying of any kind of medicines or implements which are used in hospitals, for example cotton rolls, face masks, medicines and other equipment etc. Over the past three years, there has been a Government centralised tender, but every district called for their own quotations too, violating norms.”
“They have not purchased at tender mode. Some items were purchased at highly inflated rates. For example, a face mask is worth 95 paise, but in Fatehabad that mask was purchased for Rs4.95,” said he, while sharing the details.
Chautala also claimed that in Rohtak, there was a purchase of Hepatitis B medicine worth Rs3 crore in a period of three-and-a-half months, but that purchase was not approved by any committee. Purchases were made with average quotations being above Rs19 lakh, he said.
He further said, “According to the State Government rules, all tenders above Rs5 lakh should be put on an on-line portal, but nowhere the process has been followed.”
He said the purchases were made under various schemes including the National Health Mission and “Mukhya Mantri Muft Ilaaj Yojana”.
In some cases, fake addresses were given of the companies or stores from where the purchases were made. In one case, the address given turned out to be of a ‘Dhobi’ shop,” claimed Chautala.