Yogi govt’s claim of being corruption-free proves hollow as officials mint money on purchase of COVID-19 kits

The Yogi Adityanath-led UP government’s much-hyped policy of zero tolerance on corruption has come under the scanner after the government developed cold feet on taking action against the main culprits who allegedly minted money in the name of purchase of pulse oximeters and thermal thermometers. The District Magistrates of two districts - Sultanpur and Ghazipur – were spared while Panchayat officers were suspended.

In Rae Bareli, the District Magistrate called the Chief Medical Officer of the district as ‘gadha’ (donkey) when he objected to purchase of medical kits at a higher price. After much hue and cry, the CMO of Rae Bareli was transferred the next day while the DM was spared.

“The Yogi Adityanath Government is neck deep in corruption. The Congress has been raising the issue time and again. If a government makes money in purchase of medical equipment when the people are facing the brunt of COVID-19 mismanagement, it speaks volumes about the sensibility of the government towards people,” Congress spokesperson Virendra Madan said.

The lid was blown off the racket when Additional Chief Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Manoj Kumar Singh, wrote a letter to District Magistrate, Aligarh that the district administration should purchase the survey kits consisting of pulse oximeters and infrared thermometers at Rs 2880. The letter was written on July 24. The question was raised as to why this letter was written at this point of time.

A probe showed that different DMs were purchasing these kits at different prices.

The Panchayati Raj department has been entrusted with the job to purchase survey kits of pulse oximeter and infrared thermometer for surveillance of people in the villages for COVID-19 symptoms.

BJP lawmaker Devamani Dwivedi alleged that the District Panchayati Raj Officer of Sultanpur had purchased pulse oximeters and infrared thermometers at an exorbitant rate of Rs 9950 against the government’s prescribed rate of Rs 2880. Similarly, in Ghazipur the survey kits were purchased at the rate of Rs 5800, almost Rs 3000 more than the prescribed rate of Rs 2880 per kit.

The Panchayati Raj officers played an ingenious game. They asked the different gram sabhas to make payment for the kits so that the expenditure did not reflect in the government account.

In a knee jerk reaction, the Yogi government suspended Panchayati Raj Officers of Sultanpur and Ghazipur. A probe was ordered and the enquiry officer has been asked to submit the report in a time bound manner. But again the government spared the District Magistrates. In fact, the DM of Sultanpur had defended the Panchayat Officer of the district saying that “purchase was made as per government guidelines”.

The BJP MLA wrote another letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saying that if DMs are not transferred out of the district, it would hamper the probe. “The enquiry officer is junior to the DM and would always be under pressure not to give a report against his senior. How can the probe be partial in this case?” Dwivedi told this reporter.

In fact, a senior official pointed out a flaw in the government order which allowed the district officials to make money. He said the Finance Department released Rs 299 crore out of which 50 per cent was transferred to urban local bodies and the rest to rural local bodies but there were no guidelines on purchase of survey kits and its pricing. When on June 19, the government in a separate order said that medical equipment would be purchased under GeM, why were the survey kits purchased from local markets?

The issue raises many questions, but there are no answers because this government is evidently not willing to control corruption.