M A I N   N E W S

NRHM audit reveals mess in Maya land 
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, July 18
Close on the heels of investigators finding evidence of links between the murders of three top-ranking UP Health Department officials and the alleged bungling of National Rural Health Mission funds, the Central team auditing mission accounts in the state has reported massive irregularities in the award of contracts for various works under the programme.

The audit covered the period between 2009 and 2011 during which UP saw three murders --- Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Vinod Arya on October 27, 2010; Arya’s successor BP Singh on April 2 and Deputy CMO YS Sachan on June 22. It is believed that the trio had the knowledge of widespread bungling in NRHM funds.

The Centre’s NRHM review team, constituted on May 9 after the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi expressed his concerns in this respect to the government, has reported serious violations of procedures in the use of NRHM funds.

From purchase of mobile medical units and safe drinking water kits to hospital waste management and cleaning projects, the Central team found mismanagement everywhere.

Irregularities were observed even in the most basic of works - purchase of ambulances - indicating a deep rot.

During the audit period, the Mayawati led BSP government bought 779 ambulances from Tata Motors for Rs 56.36 crore to operationalise Emergency Medical Transport System (EMTS) under the NRHM.

Shockingly, out of these, 159 ambulances remained stationed in districts and were never used; the remaining 620 remained stored at Tata Warehouse in Lucknow as the state was unable to take delivery. The Central team has asked the UP Government to conduct a special investigation into various anomalies. It has also told the state to share its action taken report with the Union Health Ministry. “The state is in no position to utilise EMTS vehicles and should not have placed the order for 988 ambulances without coordinating with other departments,” the report says.

Between 2009 and 2011, Rs 334.62 crore was available with the state’s Director General (Family Welfare) for procurement under the NRHM. However, expenditure of Rs 178.65 crore (53 pc) only was reported till May 12, 2011; Rs 63.51 crore were refunded to the state health society even though no activities had been undertaken. “Till May 2011, an advance of Rs 93.62 crore was lying with the state implementation agencies and loss of interest on this account was Rs 1.57 crore,” the report finds.

In another major violation, it was found that the DG’s office merely transferred funds for NRHM’s civil works to Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) as decided in the Programme’s Executive Committee meetings, and no open tender system was followed for ensuring competitive bidding.

Between 2010 and 2011, when three UP CMOs were killed, the state made full payments amounting to Rs 244.26 crore to PIAs without signing any formal agreement with them. “By conservative estimates, the interest lost on transfer of funds from state the DG (FW) office to PIAs was Rs 2.67 crore between 2009 and 2011,” the report finds.

Review team, constituted on May 9 after the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi expressed his concerns in this respect to the government, has reported serious violations of procedures in the use of NRHM funds.

From purchase of mobile medical units and safe drinking water kits to hospital waste management and cleaning projects, the Central team found mismanagement everywhere.

Irregularities were observed even in the most basic of works - purchase of ambulances - indicating a deep rot.

During the audit period, the Mayawati led BSP government bought 779 ambulances from Tata Motors for Rs 56.36 crore to operationalise Emergency Medical Transport System (EMTS) under the NRHM.

Shockingly, out of these, 159 ambulances remained stationed in districts and were never used; the remaining 620 remained stored at Tata Warehouse in Lucknow as the state was unable to take delivery. The Central team has asked the UP Government to conduct a special investigation into various anomalies. It has also told the state to share its action taken report with the Union Health Ministry. “The state is in no position to utilise EMTS vehicles and should not have placed the order for 988 ambulances without coordinating with other departments,” the report says.

Between 2009 and 2011, Rs 334.62 crore was available with the state’s Director General (Family Welfare) for procurement under the NRHM. However, expenditure of Rs 178.65 crore (53 pc) only was reported till May 12, 2011; Rs 63.51 crore were refunded to the state health society even though no activities had been undertaken. “Till May 2011, an advance of Rs 93.62 crore was lying with the state implementation agencies and loss of interest on this account was Rs 1.57 crore,” the report finds.

In another major violation, it was found that the DG’s office merely transferred funds for NRHM’s civil works to Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) as decided in the Programme’s Executive Committee meetings, and no open tender system was followed for ensuring competitive bidding.

Between 2010 and 2011, when three UP CMOs were killed, the state made full payments amounting to Rs 244.26 crore to PIAs without signing any formal agreement with them. “By conservative estimates, the interest lost on transfer of funds from state the DG (FW) office to PIAs was Rs 2.67 crore between 2009 and 2011,” the report finds.