The Chhattisgarh Health and Family Welfare Department on Tuesday denied irregularities regarding rural and urban 108 ambulance services as alleged by the BJP in the Assembly.
On the seventh day of the budget session, Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik and BJP's Dr Krishna Murti Bandhi and Punnulal Mohle raised the issue.
They said several complaints were lodged but no probe was done. The firms were unable to provide details of medical staff and bio-metric attendance. In rural areas the ambulances lacked basic medical equipment, they said.
Minister Mohammed Akbar denied the irregularities but stated that the rural mobile medical unit service inspection reports had revealed non-implementation of the terms and conditions as per the agreement.
Accordingly, a penalty of Rs 27,72,000 was deducted from the released payment including for use of old vehicles, the Minister added.
Similarly, in 108 ambulance services also, based on reports from the district and State Health Resources Centre, Rs 52,15,440 was deducted from the monthly payments. Show cause notice has also been issued, he said.
BJP's Kaushik pointed out manipulation of documents by Kondagaon-based Dr Manoj Kashyap. Instead of providing his credentials, he handed over the credentials of Dr Jagganath Patel to the agency.
The Minister replied that on the issue of manipulation of documents and other issues, Rs 26,04,936 has been recovered as penalty from the agency.
At present, 108 Sanjivani Express (Ambulance service) has 300 new vehicles in the state, the Minister added. All of them, he said, were functioning normally.