Cong. seeks judicial probe into purchase of COVID-19 equipment

Ex-CM Siddaramaiah alleges misappropriation of over ₹2,000 cr.

July 23, 2020 01:55 pm | Updated 02:10 pm IST - Bengaluru

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday. KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar is seen.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday. KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar is seen.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Thursday demanded a judicial probe into alleged misappropriation of over ₹2,000 crore in the purchase of equipment related to COVID-19 by the State government.

He alleged that the government had spent ₹4,167 crore since March this year and siphoned off more than ₹2,000 crore.

He released documents related to expenditure incurred by various departments in the purchase of equipment and demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court.

Countering the claims made by Ministers that the Health and Family Department had spent only ₹324 crore, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the department had spent ₹700 crore.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Ministers have been suppressing facts and truth by claiming that not a single rupee had been misused, the Congress leader alleged.

The Chief Minister, who had been promised information about all purchases made by the government in 24 hours, had not replied to 20 letters written by the Congress seeking expenditure incurred by various departments in the purchase of equipment, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.

The government has purchased masks, ventilators, sanitizers, beds, PPE kits, and thermal scanners at prices three times higher than prevailing market rates and indulged in corruption, the former Chief Minister alleged.

While the Centre purchased each ventilator at ₹4 lakh, the State government purchased them at ₹5.60 lakh, ₹12.32 lakh and ₹ 18.20 lakh, respectively on three different dates, he claimed.

“The Congress will cooperate with the government in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic but not in misappropriation of funds. Is there transparency in the procurement? The government is answerable to the people and the legislature”, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.

On July 20, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan and Health and Family Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu held a press conference and termed the Congress’s charges of misappropriation of funds as “far from truth and baseless”. They said prices for equipment were much higher in March because of short supply and high demand.

They said that prices for masks, sanitizer, ventilators and PPE kits were much higher in March owing to high demand for equipment which were largely supplied from China. Now many domestic companies manufacture PPE kits, ventilators and sanitizers and prices were reduced drastically, they claimed.

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