Himachal Cong seeks white paper on purchase of health equipment

The Himachal Congress on Thursday demanded a white paper from the state government and a probe by a sitting HC judge into allegations of corruption in the purchase of health equipment. A delegation led by state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore and legislative party leader Mukesh Agnihotri submitted a memorandum in this regard to Himachal Governor Bandaru Dattatraya. They requested the governor to direct the state government to bring out a white paper on the purchases made by the Health Department. Currently, the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is currently probing the alleged health scam, including graft allegations against suspended Director Health Services Ajay Kumar Gupta. The director had allegedly sought a bribe for making purchase of health care equipment and sanitiser at excessive prices for the state secretariat.

The health scam had taken a political turn on May 27, when state BJP chief Rajeev Bindal resigned from his post, claiming that he was doing so to ensure a proper investigation into the corruption charges against the director. In a letter to national BJP president J P Nadda, Bindal had said he was tendering his resignation on moral grounds as some people were "dragging the party's name" into the issue.

The state government on Tuesday constituted a four-member committee under the chairmanship of the Director (Industries) to probe irregularities in the purchase of ventilators. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 10 days. A panel of the Health Department set up on March 28 at the directorate level under the chairmanship of the joint director, health services, had directed for the purchase of 10 ventilators, of which seven were received by the department on April 15 at a cost of Rs 10.29 lakh each.

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