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| NRHM funds worth Rs 50 Lakh swindled in Budgam | | Politicians at work to protect CMO, MS, others involved | |
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 8: Government functionaries in the state have been
burning midnight oil to mislead Indian Association of Parliamentarians
for Population and Development (IAPPD) about the poor performance
observed in implementation of Government of India’s flagship programme
in the heath sector called National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The
visiting delegation, that attended meetings with Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah and other top government functionaries, has been kept in dark
with regard to large scale bunglings happening in several districts,
particularly Budgam. If well placed sources in the government are to
be believed, NRHM funds worth Rs 50 Lakh have been swindled in Budgam
in the last one year alone.
Sources revealed to Early Times that total volume of the NRHM funds
embezzled and misappropriated in Budgam district alone in the last
five years was estimated around Rs 3 Crore. Though misappropriations
in the flagship health programme have been observed in many other
districts, peculiarity in the case of Budgam is that the officials
have chosen Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather’s home district for
the biggest embezzlement. Sources said that senior officials of
Department of Health, including the whistleblower Chief Medical
Officer (CMO), Dr Nazir Ahmed Qanoongo, and Chief Medical Officer
(CMO), Dr Abdullah, are under the clouds.
According to these sources, one of the class 4th employees of Aga Syed
Yousuf Memorial District Hospital, Nursing Orderly Muddasar, has
withdrawn a huge amount of Rs 17 Lakh from the officials accounts in
league with other officials. Following a complaint from the Medical
Superintending, Police arrested the accused who has reportedly
admitted to have drawn the money and shared it fraudulently with other
officials of the department. Efforts are still underway to hush up the
matter, though Minister of Health, Sham Lal, is understood to have
learned about the embezzlement.
While the Minister was not accessible for comment on telephone,
bureaucratic sources said that Mr Sham Lal had taken “very serious
notice” of the NRHM embezzlement. They said that a number of
officials, including CMO Budgam, Dr Abdullah, who happens to be
custodian of all NRHM funds, Medical Superintendent, Dr Nazir Ahmed
Qanoongo, and clerks staying in CMO’s office without change for 15 to
20 years, are being removed and placed under suspension. According to
these sources, Dy CMO Dr Qayoom Khan was being temporarily appointed
as incharge CMO till the formal appointment of a new incumbent, most
likely MS of District Hospital Handwara, Dr Aleem. They said that BMO
Budgam, Dr Nehvi, was likely to be appointed as incharge MS at DH
Budgam.
Sources said that in view of large scale embezzlement of the NRHM
funds, a special audit was likely to be ordered by
Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey. The embezzlement in
almost all components of NRHM has surfaced after it was noticed that
the money reserved for pregnant women under Janani Surakhsha Yojana
(JSY), as also funds drawn for disbursement among mothers, had not
reached the concerned. It has been observed that fake entries have
been made in the official records and in most of the cases the
beneficiaries have either remained untraced or have complained that
they had received no money.
It has been observed that the funds earmarked for promoting awareness
of the programme in rural areas has been either embezzled or spent on
hospitality and “refreshment” of the employees. There are flawed
records of institutional delivery and the beneficiaries have been
either denied the benefits categorically or made shuttle between
different PHCs, District Hospital and Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar.
Most of the delivery cases have been found to have been referred to LD
Hospital, contrary to instructions from senior officials.
Sources revealed that a number of officials, including CMO and MS,
have immediately sought services of their political godfathers to
escape disciplinary action and reshuffle. Some of them are understood
to have reached Jammu. One of the Cabinet Ministers, belonging to
Congress party and hailing from the Valley, is said to have assured
these officials that he would prevail upon the Minister of Health and
prevent action against them.
Sources said that role of the MS of DH Budgam was under investigation
in view of his advantage that he had lodged the complaint with Police
and sought a detailed investigation into the NRHM misappropriations.
There was still a strong point of indiscipline against him as 46
officials of his hospital were found absent by additional Commissioner
of Kashmir when he conducted a surprise inspection last week.
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