By IANS
Bhubaneswar : The Orissa government has written a letter to the World Bank requesting it to reveal the name of the minister who was allegedly involved in a scam uncovered by a review report of the bank recently, a top state official said here Saturday.
A detailed implementation review (DIR) report of the World Bank into the $76.4 million Orissa Health System Development Project (OHSDP) launched in 1998 and completed in 2006, had said that a health minister and some officials had taken Rs.500,000 in bribes to give undue favours to a particular firm.
“The state government has written a letter to the World Bank to reveal the name of the minister. After that appropriate action would be taken against the person,” a senior member of chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s office told IANS.
The state government had earlier formed a three-member panel headed by Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy to probe into charges of corruption after the DIR report was published.
The report gives details, with documentary evidence, about sub standard construction works and fraud in procurement of instruments and fittings for hospitals covered under the project.
Opposition parties have been demanding an inquiry into the matter by a central agency.