Top officials booked in Orissa health scam
Submitted by Mudassir Rizwan on 1 July 2008 - 6:40am.
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The Orissa vigilance department has registered graft cases against seven officials, including a retired bureaucrat, for their involvement in an alleged scam in a World Bank funded health project, sources said Tuesday.
"We have registered criminal cases against Mayadhara Panigrahi, a retired IAS officer, and six others after we found huge irregularities and corruption in the project implemented during their tenure," a senior official of the state vigilance department told IANS wishing anonymity.
The department began probing allegations about wrong-doings in the state government- launched $76.4 million Orissa Health System Development Project (OHSDP) about six months ago. The project was launched in 1998 and completed in 2006.
A detailed implementation review (DIR) launched by the World Bank in 2006 and supported by the government of India found fraud and corruption in the implementation of the project.
The bank in its report pointed out that a state health minister and some officials had taken Rs.500,000 in bribes to give undue favours to a particular firm.
After pressure from opposition parties, the state government asked the vigilance department to probe the allegations.
Three people, including Panigrahi, have been charged with showing undue favour to a firm in the purchase of some medicines at exorbitant rates that caused huge losses to the state exchequer, the official said.
Three of the seven accused are still in government service, he said.
Among the accused were joint director of the project Sugat Kar, assistant director of the project Taramani Patnaik, deputy director Rajesh Mishra, financial advisor and chief accounts officer Bibhuti Bhusan Mishra, executive engineer Bijoy Chandra Tripathy and deputy control procurement S. Balgopal, the official said.
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Orissa Health Project, rediscovering the way politicians escape!
This investigation itself is a BIG SHAM. To protect the lousy politicians, people who have struggled all their life with 10,000 ruppes salaries have been made the scape-goats.
If the World Bank is really interested in pursuing the matter, then it should continue to press for the original charges against the minister.
Haven't we seen how politicians continue to rule the roost and poor officials are made the scape-goats. When will we have transparency in the way we conduct investigations? I suppose, only when the rotten apples called the Indian politicians are taken to task.
I blame the media too - what gets fed by the politicians is digested comfortably by these guys. It is NOT NECESSARY to select L1 in any bid process. There are qualification criteria in every tender and if the process was so open, with six officials as members, wouldn't they be making money out of every deal as a team? The Orisaa government should make available all the documents related to this deal and all of us will realize that the entire vigilance report is but a sham.
Come on Mr. Navin Pattnaik, come clean on this - don't blame the officials who worked tirelessly and with meagre salaries. All of us have to one day face the God. Truth will prevail here but till then all of us can expect these six officials to run from pillar to post, begging the same politicians who framed them up.
India, JAGO. Let us work towards transparency. Let us be able to distinguish right and wrong.
Orissa Health Scam - Injustice seems to be the punchline
I Agree to what deep indian as commented. It is horrendous to know that how state government can accuse officials in a process which is primarily driven by the health ministry. It is an apathy that ministers are not highlighted in these kind of cases and ultimately the honest government bearers who actually run the show are falsely implicated.
I second the stance that it is NOT compulsary to choose an L1 vendor in any bid process. It is ridiculous to say that a local vendor was rejected inspite of being L1 when the Pharmaceutical company is black listed and no where figures in the world bank approved list. Infact what was choosen was one the leading global vendors and the committee had all the right to decide in best interests of the people of Orissa because this is the question of health of the state.
The government should provide all the documents as its mandatory under RTI and things will be quite clear in black and white. A whole committee cannot be implicated and blamed for a decision which has been taken for the good will of the people of Orissa.
Wake up Mr Patnaik, wake up India and please stop scapgoating who have given their whole life for the service of the people. Ironically not even one black mark history for any of the officials implicated in this case
tortureed by vigilance
I know about this case very well as my Dad has been accused in this case. Really the Govt. Officials under Naveen Govt ministry are fucking assholes and while investigating the case ( Officers at vigilance department) they have not seen the reason why tender was not given to L1. Its not anywhere mentioned that whoever is L1 will get the tender.
As per the guidelines under section 2.19 by World Bank the companies with L1/L2 etc. did not have mandatory quality standards (ISI, ISO for the chairs they were supplying. Hence their BID was rejected and tender was given to L6. The company with L5 tender went to high court and order was in favor of L6.
Why the hell and on what basis vigilance has charge sheeted these officials I don’t understand. We are going thru undue pain and agony because of this. My mom has really undergone a great shock as she was tortured a lot by the vigilance official who raided our house. After the raid I went to my house. It was fully shattered and if you look at my mom she took all the pain in rearranging the entire house. She was looking pale and anemic and has gone down and was staying at home with sleepless nights thinking of what will happen to my Dad......its a real pain. If you look into her eyes you can feel it....what more I can say.
Really this Naveen Govt is doing all such fucking things to divert public attention from major issues like terrorism, drought, poverty and just before the elections trying to draw a fake image of itself in public.
Once can understand only if you feel it. I know how much we are suffering and being humiliated because of this. These vigilance officials have taken away my brothers personal computer telling that there might be some financial transactions my Dad would have done using the PC. My Dad does not even know how to operate the mouse. Forget about he keeping a track of his financials in the system.
The system was used my younger brother for his college studies and I purchased it for him out of my won salary paying Rs. 25000 to Nigama computers from Saheed Nagar.
No one can put a hand on the ministers and officials like my Dad are made to be a scape goat. It is really pity and my Dad’d bad luck. What do do……
Till now we did not get back the computer and various other important Docs they have seized. May God help us to overcome this issue and My Dad gets back his name.....Please pray for us……..My God help those innocent people who are suffering just for nothing
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