Newly appointed Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Santosh Chaudhary has instructed the officials of her department to collect data of the detailed grants sent to different states and its proper utilization and lying unspent huge amounts.
At the same time, Chaudhary assured maximum help to provide medical health care for the victims of Uttrakhand’s flash floods. “Officials have been asked officials to prepare a report on departmental grants sent to states and the amount spent or unspent, so that misuse of these central grants could be checked and their optimum and judicious use can be ensured,” said Chaudhary, while talking to the reporters.
Chaudhary agreed with allegations of the state Congress leaders that central grants were being diverted for purposes other than what they were meant for.
Talking about the Punjab government, Chaudhary said that the Union government had released many grants to the state but “medical infrastructure in Punjab is not upgraded properly so I would pay attention to the grants being released for the state government”. The minister said that she would also look into the proposals sent by various state government concerning health and medical facilities.
To another question, the Minister said that she will send directions to the SAD-BJP government for removing photographs of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pasted on ambulances funded by the Centre under the Ambulance-108 Scheme.
“Pasting of photographs ran counter to central rules of the scheme,” she said, adding that instructions have been issued to all states where 108 Ambulances are being run to remove all the unnecessary pictures or slogans immediately. “If any state government did not remove the picture, the Union government would take action,” she added.