Sources said that as the Sahay Committee report went against the minister and his department, he appointed another committee headed by Gautam Chatterjee to probe the same charges.
Maharashtra Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare Deepak Sawant allegedly suppressed two important reports that pointed out irregularities in the procurement of medicines valued at Rs 297 crore under the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).
The first report, headed by Additional Chief Secretary Bhagwan Sahay, was submitted in April 2016 while the second report headed by former bureaucrat Gautam Chatterjee was submitted in August 2016. The reports have yet to be tabled in the state legislature. DNA has copies of both reports.
Sawant did not respond to DNA’s attempts to reach him.
Sources said that as the Sahay Committee report went against the minister and his department, he appointed another committee headed by Gautam Chatterjee to probe the same charges. Surprisingly, Chatterjee avoided the objectionable issues raised by the Sahay Committee while filing his own report, sources added.
The allegation against the minister’s department is that tenders for procurement of 549 medicines, valued at Rs 297 crore, were hastily awarded on March 31, 2015. These medicines were to be supplied to 26 municipal corporations, 65 municipal councils and other urban bodies under NUHM.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had set up a committee headed by Sahay after the allegations of irregularities in the procurement process surfaced. Sahay in his report had raised doubts about various aspects of the procurement procedure.
“Sodium hypochlorite povidone-iodine was purchased more than the actual demand of the municipal corporations. Sitagliptin medicines were bought at prices higher than the market rate. Besides, no separate tendering procedure was followed. Calcium phosphate was bought at the rate of Rs 18 a litre against the market price of Rs 65. Actually, the product bought by them was of inferior quality. Wrong prices were quoted to mislead those involved in the procurement process,” Sahay said in the report.
The report further says that the procedure followed by the health department to purchase medicineshad a lot of loopholes.
“A faulty method was followed to procure medicines. Two hundred and one medicines worth Rs 40 crore were procured without following any tendering procedure. As per norms, if the value of a procurement is more than Rs 3 lakh, e-tendering has to be followed. However, in this case, medicines valued at Rs 40 crore were ought without issuing any tender. This is a clear violation of prescribed norms,” the report said.
Not only this, the department in some cases purchased medicines beyond the requirements of the corporations. For example, Mira-Bhayandar and Bhiwandi municipal corporations were supplied some medicines which they did not need. “The health department is responsible for all these irregularities,” said the Sahay report.
The report further said that the state health department has suspended four officials in this regard but no FIR was filed against them. “A lot of misguided information was used while purchasing the medicines in large quantities.
The officials who were part of the purchase committee did not reveal the right information. It looked as if they were hiding something. During investigation, the committee found their conduct to be suspicious,” the report said.
Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde has promised to rake up the issue in the ongoing Budget session of the state legislature. Talking to DNA, Munde said, “We will ask the Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, to table these reports and take action against the minister concerned.”
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 "Deepak Sawant")
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