PThe pending payments coupled with the fact that the contract of the GVK EMRI 108 ambulance service with the State Government is nearing its end, the petrol pump operators are now refusing to provide fuel to the fleet of 108 ambulance service.
The impasse having taken a grim form with the ambulances going off the road, leaving the patients in the lurch, the worried administration convened a meeting at the State secretariat on Wednesday to resolve the logjam.
The fuel crisis has jolted the ambulance service to such an extent that over the past few days, close to half of the ambulances have gone off the road. As per the information provided by the GVK EMRI administration, 55 to 60 percent of the fleet of the ambulance service operated on Wednesday.
An official of the service disclosed that the petrol pump operators are worried over losing their pending dues with the contract of the GVK Company with the State Government nearing end.
The ten-year contract of Uttarakhand Government with the GVK-EMRI having ended on March 2018, the period of the contract had been extended for six months which ended on September 7. The period was extended again for six more months.
However, the despite the repeated extension, the fund crunch resulting in non-clearance of the long- pending dues to the fuel suppliers has made it tough for the company to keep the service afloat. The company owes a sum of Rs70 lakh to the fuel pump operators. Things are so grim that the staffers are unpaid for the past two months.
On Tuesday, a meeting of the officials of health directorate and GVK EMRI management was convened by the state administration. In course of the meeting, the GVK EMRI officials clearly told the additional secretary Arunendra Singh Chauhan that the petrol pump operators are now not prepared to give petrol on credit.
The Director General (DG) health services, T C Pant said while speaking to The Pioneer that the ambulance service would soon receive a fund of Rs3.72 crore.
He also said that the company would also soon get the TDS refund of Rs4 crore from the income tax department. The State administration has directed the Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of all the districts to talk to the fuel pump operators and ensure that they supply fuel for the important service.
Pant assured that the ambulance service would now start functioning normally.
The State head of the GVK EMRI 108 service, Manish Tinku said that the company would soon receive the pending budget.
Started in 2008, the 108 services is a vital cog in providing emergency care in all parts of the State. The service also caters to the important task of transporting pregnant women for safe deliveries in the hospital under Khushiyon Ki Savari.
The 108 ambulance service has a fleet 139 ambulances. Besides, it has a boat ambulance which operates in Tehri Lake.