Chandigarh, June 8
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab affairs co-incharge and MLA from Delhi, Raghav Chadha on Tuesday wrote a letter to Lokpal, Punjab, demanding an immediate and prompt cognizance with investigation in the alleged massive scam orchestrated by the Punjab Congress government in acquiring the ‘Covid Fateh Kits’; aimed at siphoning off the public money at the testing times of this deadly pandemic. In his letter, Raghav Chadha stated that by exploiting the painful circumstances in the face of massive scam, depicts the unfathomably indifferent proclivity of the incumbent Congress government. Chadha stated that it was manifest that the Congress government using the ‘disaster as opportunity’, purportedly embezzled crores of rupees in the purchase of ‘Fateh kits’ used for the treatment of Covid patients.
He stated that it was not hidden from anyone that currently Punjab was reeling under the disastrous and deadly stroke of Covid-19 second wave and the mortality rate was among the highest in the country. “To cause further assault to this grave injury, an alleged massive scam is nefariously executed in the procedure of inviting, acquiring and executing the bids for Covid- 19 medical consumables and essential medical equipment kit under the name and scheme of “Covid Fateh Kit”, as purportedly there have been numerous over- priced bids accepted by the government with a view to extract undue monetary gains from the said process leading to humungous losses to the state exchequer especially during these testing times of Covid-19 pandemic,” wrote Chadha. He stated that at the time of crisis, the government is expected to be the ultimate caretaker of its people and should be working to provide relief in the most optimum manner, yet the Congress government in Punjab is busy cashing in on the worst crisis ever witnessed by mankind.
Chadha further stated that the entire corruption instance had been allegedly schemed under the aid of the present Punjab government which can be duly corroborated with the hard facts and other evidence which had come to light via multi- layered inquiries made by public- spirited persons. “It has come to the common knowledge that under this scam the price of the medical kits which was supplied to the people during the Covid pandemic was consistently raised in a well thought out manner by repeatedly inviting one tender after another despite the fact the first tender was valid for a period of 180 days,” reads the letter. Significantly, the first tender was awarded at Rs 837 per kit, but after ordering only few thousand kits from the vendor at a higher price of Rs 940 i.e. greater than the originally quoted price, a new tender was floated and pursuantly allotted the tender to another vendor at Rs 1,226 per kit, he stated.
Chadha mentioned that it had also come to light that the Grand Way (vendor) does not even legitimately fulfill the criterion of having a medical license but was still chosen to deliver the kits to the government. “Shockingly, the government procured 50,000 Fateh kits as per the price of Rs 1,226.40 through the second tender. To the further shock, another order of 1, 50,000 kits at Rs 1,338.40 per kit was placed to the same vendor, despite it being an expensive choice than the previous one,” stated Chadha. The AAP leader stated that intriguingly, the price disparity was evident and raises grounds for concern as it was manifestly indicative of the intention of the government by deviating excess amount on the prices of the kits in their kitty which clearly expose the massive corruption underlying within the confines of the Punjab led Congress government.
“The government is also evading its accountability on this, as well as vaccine issues, and whenever the Health Minister of Punjab is asked about the alleged scams, he prefers to pass the buck to his seniors. In light of the abject evasion to provide accountability, the role of the office of the Chief Minister of Punjab cannot be ruled out thus warranting a thorough investigation,” wrote Chadha. He requested for investigation to ensue in order to decipher the level of corruption as well as anoint specific culpability to the delinquent persons, including the political executive, involved in this massive scam aimed at siphoning off the public money at the testing times of this deadly pandemic.
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