Assam TMC has demanded a CBI probe into the allegations of ‘scam’ in the procurement of PPE kits and sanitizers in the state during COVID times in 2020.
Assam TMC chief Ripun Bora has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “seeking CBI inquiry into the scam involving the supply of Covid safety equipment in Assam”.
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“…serious questions are now being raised that, even as the nation dealt with the unprecedented emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it became an opportunity for the health department of the BJP-led Assam government to hand over ‘urgent’ medical supply orders to companies owned by the then health minister Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Sarma Bhuyan and Sarma’s ‘business friend’ Ashok Dhanuka’s son Ghanshyam Dhanuka, for their own benefit,” Assam TMC chief Ripun bora said in the letter to PM Narendra Modi.
“It is high time that the matter be settled for all concerned and it will be munificent of your good offices to order an investigation by the CBI to bring out the truth,” Ripun bora stated in the memorandum.
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Assam TMC chief Ripun Bora has also accused CM Himanta Biswa Sarma of violating “Government of India’s Code of Conduct for ministers”.
Ripun Bora in the memo to PM Narendra Modi said: “As per the Government of India’s Code of Conduct for ministers (both Union and State), all State and Union ministers are to ‘ensure that the members of his family do not start, or participate in, business concerns, engaged in supplying goods or services to that Government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard and market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licenses, permits, quotas, leases, etc. from that Government; and report the matter to the Prime Minister, or the chief minister as the case may be, if any member of his family, sets up, or joins the conduct and management of any other business’.
“The Code of Conduct for all ministers – in the Union and all State governments – was approved by the Union cabinet at its meeting on January 24, 1992 in the Narasimha Rao era. CM Sarma has violated this Code of Conduct by his actions, if the allegations are proved to be true,” Assam TMC chief Ripun Bora said.
“NHM’s appreciation letter to JCB Industries, Riniki Bhuyan Sarma’s company, mentions an amount of Rs 990 as the price of one PPE kit. According to reports, a cancellation order was also issued to JCB Industries on April 6, 2020 (signed on April 4, 2020) explicitly stating the reason as ‘failure in supplying the lifesaving coverall protection kit in time’. The order cancellation letter also acknowledged that NHM received ‘only 1,485 nos *numbers+ of kits out of 5000 kits’ while also stating that it was a part of a ‘supply order placed to your company on M/S JCB Industries.’ This confirms the fact that an order for supply of 5,000 PPE kits were made out to JCB Industries, which the company failed to comply with on time, prompting Riniki Bhuyan Sarma to term the 1,485 PPE kits supplied as a CSR activity and further inviting the cancellation order,” Ripun Bora stated.
“RTI replies to The Cross Current by the state chapter of the National Health Mission (NHM), revealed that between March 11, 2020, and May 29, 2020, GRD Pharmaceuticals was issued seven orders for delivering 500 ml and 100 ml bottles of sanitizers in quantities ranging between 500 to 20,000 nos. This made it one of the biggest suppliers of the product to the state health department during the pandemic. As per an order dated March 18, 2020, each 500-ml bottle of Dhanuka’s firm’s sanitizer, Handrub, was to be supplied to the state health department at Rs 231.87 including GST, while the 100-ml bottles were priced at Rs 100.30 per piece, including GST. On the other hand, the Assam government paid Rs 25 (Rs 37 with GST) to another firm- Surma Distilleries- for each 200 ml bottle of sanitizer it ordered. To GRD Pharmaceuticals, the government paid Rs 137 and Rs 81 more per bottle respectively if the former firm’s rates were to be applied,” Bora added.