New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday accused the BJP-led city government of involvement in alleged irregularities in the procurement of medicines and medical equipment worth around Rs 650 crore, and demanded a probe. Delhi health minister Pankaj Singh, speaking to reporters, refuted the allegation.
“AAP’s claims are baseless; Rs 650 crore was not even the expenditure in the whole exercise. Action will be taken based on the investigation report,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that irregularities could not have been carried out by a single officer and accused the Delhi government of centralising procurement to facilitate the purchases.
On Saturday, the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch arrested former Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Vatsala Agrawal in connection with an alleged multi-crore procurement scam involving medicines, surgical items, and medical equipment.
Bharadwaj said that after the BJP came to power in the city, the government directed that all purchases by its hospitals must be routed through the Central Procurement Agency (CPA), and not individual hospitals.
“Dr Vatsala Agarwal was appointed Director General of Health Services (DGHS), despite not being the senior-most officer and facing a vigilance inquiry,” Bharadwaj alleged Bharadwaj cited the FIR filed in the case to say that portable X-ray machines, C-arm radiological equipment, ORS packets and bedsheets were purchased at prices several times higher than market rates.
He alleged that the government procured around 50 lakh ORS packets and over 16.6 lakh bedsheets, claiming the quantities far exceeded the actual requirement of Delhi government hospitals.
According to the AAP’s Delhi unit chief, hospitals with around 200 beds were allegedly forced to accept nearly 20,000 bedsheets each.
Abhay Verma, the Delhi BJP Chief Whip in the legislative assembly, dismissed the allegations.
“The Rekha government did not wait for a complaint but took suo moto cognisance and initiated action,” Verma said.
Bharadwaj, meanwhile, said he was not giving a “clean chit” to Dr Agarwal and recalled that his party earlier raised complaints regarding her tenure at the Delhi State Cancer Institute.
“However, the procurement decisions were part of a larger conspiracy involving the government and should not be pinned on a single official,” Bharadwaj alleged.
The AAP leader demanded that the investigation probe the roles of the lieutenant governor.
