By IANS,
Shimla : Congress members Thursday walked out of the Himachal Pradesh assembly over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government decision to name an ambulance service after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Raising the issue, Congress legislator G.S. Bali said the government had diverted National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) funds for the new scheme and was trying to gain cheap popularity by publicising it.
Health Minister Rajeev Bindal said the ambulance scheme was launched after inviting open bids. He denied any irregularity.
Not satisfied, the Congress members accused the government of trying to get publicity by naming the scheme after Vajpayee.
The project, initially launched in seven districts Dec 25, the birthday of Vajpayee, is jointly funded by the NHRM and the state government. Later, the scheme was extended to three districts more.
The ambulances are furnished with life-saving equipment like automatic external defibrillator and drugs like anti-snake venom.
All the ambulances are equipped with the global positioning system. An ambulance takes 25 minutes to reach a person in urban areas and 35 minutes in the rural areas.