Odisha Lokayukt has directed the State vigilance to conduct a preliminary investigation into allegation of corruption in purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) within next two months.
The preliminary investigation would have to be supervised by a competent officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police or Additional Superintendent of Police having impeccable integrity, ordered the Lokayukt.
“The timeline of the preliminary inquiry and submission of report is fixed at two months from the date of receipt of the reference. The Secretary, Lokayukta will immediately supply the relevant records to the Director of Vigilance in a sealed cover for information and compliance,” it said.
One Sushant Kumar Padhi had moved Odisha Lokayukt alleging that the government had initially sought to purchase triple layered mask at ₹10 per piece through open tender while it actually procured mask at ₹16 per piece.
Stating that the same quality of masks was purchased by different States at much lower prices, the complainant alleged that even other essential pharmaceutical good and critical care equipment were purchased on much higher rates by the officials with an ulterior motive of wrongful gain.
Senior IAS officers Hemant Kumar Sharma and Yamini Sarangi, who were part of PPE procurement, had dismissed allegations that medical equipment was made as per price fixed by the Union government after due deliberation by the Emergency Procurement Committee and further approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers. They said the procurement was absolutely transparent with no preferential treatment to any supplier.
Stating that COVID-19 is a viral disease, the world knows little how to combat it, the Lokayukt observed on the emergence of a situation like this, in a welfare State, the response of the government, to arrest the menace of the pandemic has necessarily to be an out of box one.
“Nevertheless, in a parliamentary democracy, the people who elect their government, have a right to know, whether the response of the government to a given situation, like the present pandemic, has been an honest one and up to their desired expectation. Considering the facts and totality of the circumstances it will be in the fitness of things to conduct a more detailed inquiry which will dig into the special circumstances and unearth the real truth,” said Odisha Lokayukt in its order.