PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara has alleged corruption in the purchase of vein finder machines and CT scan machines in the State Health department. Interacting with the mediapersson at the headquarters of the State Congress on Saturday, the PCC president said that a vein finder machine is available at a price range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 in the market but the Health department has purchased this machine at Rs 5.5 lakh a piece.
Showing documents, Mahara said that a sum of Rs 5.85 crore was spent on purchase of these machines which had an iron stand. He added that the department has purchased five MRI machines from a Chinese company ignoring an Indian company in the bid process. He claimed that complete payment to the firm was made even before these machines became operational. The PCC president said that on October 1, BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Ajay Bhatt has written a letter to the chief minister in which he has alleged gross irregularities in constriction of a cath lab in Sushila Tiwari hospital in Haldwani.
Mahara said that in 2023, the tourism department had sanctioned a sum of Rs six crore and Rs 3.5 crore for construction of hospitals in Kedarnath and Badrinath respectively but these hospitals have not yet been constructed which put the functioning of both the Health and the Tourism departments under cloud.
Former PCC president Ganesh Godiyal said that all departments in the State are immersed neck deep in corruption. He claimed that the Health and Cooperative departments have become den of corruption under Minister Dhan Singh Rawat. Godiyal said that when in power, the Congress government will set up a special commission which will inquire corruption charges in the recruitments done in the different departments. He claimed that two types of transfers are being done in the Education department and there is a special desk at the residence of the minister negotiations are done for transfer of employees.
