Former Karnataka chief minister and leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah has demanded a judicial inquiry into the alleged procurement scam worth Rs 2,000 crore in the purchase of COVID-related medical equipment.
"The government should order a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge as the government documents are indicating rampant corruption," said Siddaramaiah on Thursday, two days after the government had claimed there was no misappropriation.
Slamming the BJP government for failing to reply to the queries of the opposition, Siddaramaiah said the Congress party can ‘no longer watch public money being looted’.
"Health minister B. Sriramulu and deputy chief minister Dr Ashwath Narayan claimed that the government had spent only Rs 324 crore on COVID since March. But I have documents to prove the government spent Rs 4,167 crore," said Siddaramaiah, producing 14 documents (annexures) to prove his point.
"As per the documents, the health department has spent Rs 700 crore, medical education Rs 815 crore, district administrations Rs 742 crore, Labour department Rs 1,000 crore, BBMP and ULBs Rs 200 crore, beds for COVID care centres Rs 160 crore and departments like social welfare, education, women and children around Rs 500 crore and Rs 50 crore for equipment from the central government. They have paid two to three times the actual cost for the equipment. It is a scam of at least Rs 2,000 crore and the officers and ministers have filled their pockets," alleged Siddaramaiah.
"The health department has spent Rs 3,500 crore in April and May. But no details about how it was spent. The ministers have not mentioned the money spent on quarantine facilities, ambulances, food kits, testing and treatment," he added.
Elaborating on the cost variation in purchases, the former CM pointed out that the Centre had purchased each ventilator at Rs 4 lakh, Tamil Nadu at Rs 4.65 lakh, but the state government purchased them for three different rates Rs 5.60 lakh, Rs 12.32 lakh and Rs 18.20 lakh on different dates. BJP leader Sarvabhouma Bagali, who is also a doctor, complained to the Lokayukta about procurement of old and tampered ventilators by the state government.
Giving details of the purchase, Siddaramaiah pointed out that the government had bought 3.5 lakh PPE kits, which were available at Rs 330 per unit at an exorbitant price of Rs 2,117 from a Maharashtra-based company. But the kits were found to be of poor quality and 1.5 units were withdrawn. Likewise, the government has purchased 10 lakh masks at Rs 120-130, though the market price is only Rs 50-60. The thermal scanners costing Rs 1,500-2,000 were purchased at Rs 5,945 per unit. For sanitiser bottles (500 ml) costing Rs 80-100, the health department has paid Rs 250 and the social welfare department has paid Rs 600.
"The Centre, which gives discourses on Swadeshi and Make in India, purchased substandard PPE kits from China. The ministers give lame excuses like the low production leads to high costs," mocked Siddaramaiah.
BJP govt has spread both corona virus and corruption: DKS
The BJP government in Karnataka spread the coronavirus and also corruption in the state, alleged KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar, who joined Siddaramaiah in the "Lekka Kodi" (Give the account) campaign.
"Our leader of the opposition has demanded accounts and the Congress party is of the opinion that there has been rampant corruption to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore," said Shivakumar.
Responding to Chief Minister Yediyurappa's appeal for co-operation, Shivakumar said, "The CM imposed a lockdown at short notice, we cooperated. But today the government is making a fast buck over the dead bodies. The COVID situation has worsened. But none of the eight in-charge ministers in the city have reached out to the doctors, hospitals and the patients. The BJP government has distributed the COVID infection and also spread corruption. This is a government without a vision or direction, but full of corruption," slammed Shivakumar.
Poor handling of the migrants’ crisis has spoilt Karnataka's reputation as a state that has welcomed all and fed them, said Shivakumar, adding the government had no roadmap for the students, who are going to lose an academic year.
"BJP had boasted they needed 21 days to win the war against Corona just like Mahabharata war took 18 days. It's been 121 days now. They failed to utilise the lockdown period to scale up the healthcare system as they were busy swindling money even during a pandemic. This is an inefficient government of the Kaliyugada Kouravas (modern day Kouravas)," mocked Shivakumar, adding that the government had made the BJP and RSS workers hang their heads in shame.
