HP govt must issue white paper on purchases made by health department, says Congress

The Congress on Friday demanded the Himachal Pradesh government should issue a white paper regarding all the purchases made by the state’s health department and a judicial inquiry into an alleged corruption case against former director health services.

In a statement issued by the leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said that even when the whole world is battling coronavirus pandemic, scams in the health department during such sensitive times is a definition of treason. Therefore, it is necessary to take extensive steps in order to maintain trust in the government machinery.

He said that the state government should reveal that how many purchases were made without tendering since the lockdown was imposed and how many tenders were received and rejected and for whose benefit direct purchases were made instead of finalising tenders.

“Resignation of state BJP president is not a small incident as it is linked with the health scam. Therefore, all the events from the beginning till now including letter bomb should be brought under scrutiny,” said Agnihotri.

State BJP president Rajeev Bindal had resigned from his post on Wednesday within four-and-a-half months of his appointment, saying he was doing so to ensure a proper investigation into the case of alleged corruption by the health department official. In a resignation letter sent to BJP president J P Nadda, Bindal said he was tendering his resignation on high moral grounds as some people were dragging the party’s name in the alleged corruption case.

The state government has not even clarified abrupt removal of principal of Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. Earlier irregularities in purchases in the state’s Ayurveda department were also revealed, he added.