Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Friday alleged major misappropriation amounting to over ₹2,200 crore in the purchase of equipment related to COVID-19 in the State.
Addressing presspersons here, the Congress leader alleged that the BJP government had procured equipment at ₹3,392 crore against the market price of ₹1,163.35 crore. Citing examples, he said that about 1,000 ventilators had been purchased at ₹120 crore against the market price of ₹40 crore. He claimed that the price of each PPE kit was ₹995 and the amount for 4.89 lakh kits should be ₹48.65 crore. But the actual bill produced by the government was ₹150 crore. Similarly, the government had siphoned off funds in the purchase of masks and gloves, Mr. Siddaramaiah alleged, demanding a probe.
A few days ago, in the wake of allegations of corruption and nepotism in the management of the disease, Mr. Siddaramaiah had demanded the government constitute an all-party COVID-19 management panel to monitor treatment-related issues in hospitals. He had also demanded the government come up with a White Paper on COVID-19 management.
‘Allegations baseless’
Reacting to this, Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said they were “baseless” and maintained that all purchase of COVID-19-related equipment had been made in the most transparent way by senior officials under the supervision of Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar. “I am pained by the allegations and it is unfortunate. If he had doubts, he could have asked the Chief Secretary or Ministers, and we would have clarified. This will not send the right message,” Mr. Sudhakar said. The government is ready for any probe, he said.
Earlier, Head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and senior Congress leader H.K. Patil had alleged misappropriation and said that it needs to be investigated by PAC. However, the office of Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri had said that inspections cannot be conducted now in view of the pandemic.
