Opposition ups ante against Punjab govt over kit ‘scam’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 8

Stepping up its attack, the BJP today accused the Congress government of indulging in “corruption and profiteering” by selling kits meant for the treatment of Covid patients at higher prices than procurement rates, and questioned Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over their “silence on the scam”.

Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the Punjab Government selling Covid vaccines at a much higher rate and ‘Fateh’ kit “scam” were proofs of “rampant corruption in the state”.

He also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu over the alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts for the kits to private firms. “Amarinder Singh has no right to continue as the CM and there cannot be a fair probe so long as Sidhu is the Health Minister,” he said.

He said initially, the ‘Fateh’ kits were procured at Rs 837 each. “We don’t even know if they were actually procured,” he said. “Then the state government procured kits at Rs 1,226.40 per unit through the second tender, even though the company concerned did not have a medical licence. A third tender was floated to procure more kits at a price above Rs 1,338 per unit,” he alleged.

The last tender cost nearly 60 per cent more than the first one, Bhatia said, accusing the Congress of indulging in “corruption and scams” even during the times of a pandemic.

“It is a matter of shame that the Congress is doing a scam during the pandemic. This is Punjab’s ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should break the silence because the people of Punjab want answers. They want to know why the state government is profiteering from the sale of Covid vaccines and purchase of these kits and why the CM is silent on the issue,” Bhatia said.