By IANS,
Lucknow : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi took the Uttar Pradesh government by surprise Wednesday when he suddenly arrived at the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) office here, seeking various details under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
This comes close on the heels of a formal admission by the Mayawati government that large scale bungling in the execution of NRHM programme was also responsible for the murder of two successive district chief medical officers (CMOs) in Lucknow.
By the time the news broke out in the local media, Gandhi had done his bit by getting an application moved under the RTI Act.
Expressing concern over the murder of two successive CMOs, he told mediapersons outside the NRHM office: “It is a serious matter that there was largescale pilferage in the centrally-funded NRHM. We have made an application under the RTI Act to elicit detailed information on the manner of utilisation of the huge funds sent by the centre.”
Shortly thereafter, Gandhi headed straight to the residence of recently slain CMO B.P.Singh, who was gunned down during his morning walk April 2, allegedly because he started raising too many questions on the utilisation of NRHM funds.
“Rahul Gandhi has assured us of his full support and has even agreed to go the extent of urging the state government to hand over the case to the CBI in case the state police investigations were not satisfactory,” the victim’s brother, I.P. Singh, told mediapersons.
“His visit has been a great morale booster and considering that he is such a big national figure, our family feels the entire nation is with us,” he added.
Gandhi also spoke with the slain CMO’s wife and children. He flew back to New Delhi around 4.30 p.m.