New Delhi: In Uttar Pradesh, two Chief Medical Officers were killed during morning walks in the last few months and Dr Sachan's death now shrouded in a mystery that leads to the doorsteps of UP Chief Minister Mayawati.
These deaths now raise a larger question on the functioning of the Health and Family Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh. What is so lucrative about the CMO office in Lucknow?
CNN-IBN has learnt that the CMO murders are linked to the huge amount of funds coming in to the state under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
CNN-IBN has accessed the details of central funds sent to Uttar Pradesh's family welfare department.
An overall sum of Rs 10 thousand crores were sent to Uttar Pradesh in 2010-11 for the improvement of health infrastructure.
Former Health Secretary Sujata Rao has told CNN-IBN that there is large scale corruption in Uttar Pradesh's departments related to health infrastructure.
BSP leaders Dhananjay Singh and Mayawati's close aide Babu Singh Kushwaha are also under a cloud for their alleged involvement in murder cases of CMOs.
Uttar Pradesh chief Minister had made Babu Singh Kushwaha the minister for family welfare before removing him after the murders of the two CMOs.
Kushwaha was the one who was largely looking after the money coming in from the Centre under the national rural health mission.
What led to CMO murders
Babu Singh Kushwaha, Anand Mishra and Dhananjay Singh - the three faces who could be the most vital links in cracking the mystery behind the murder of Dr YS Sachan, the deputy Chief Medical officer in Lucknow jail.
Babu Singh Kushwaha, the oldest and most trusted aide of Mayawati was sacked as Minister family welfare after the murders of CMOs Dr Arya and Dr BP Singh..
Health minister Anand Mishra, suave, English speaking nephew of Mayawati's brahmin face Satish Mishra was also booted out on the same grounds.
Dhananjay Singh is a mafia don and BSP MP from Jaunpur with huge interests in business of supplying of medical equipment.
The sordid tale dates back to mid 2010, when the Uttar Pradesh chief minister decided to split the departments of health and family welfare under two separate ministers. Till then, it was Mayawati herself who controlled the combined health department.
As the money coming from the Centre and other international bodies for development of health infrastructure grew exponentially, touching over Rs 5 thousand crores just in lucknow, Mayawati decided to bifurcate the ministries. The meaty section controlling a major chunk of this money was allocated to Kushwaha as the minister of family welfare. The leftover was left for Satish Mishra's nephew.
A look at the funds released by the Centre under the national rural health management scheme to UP's department of family welfare.
In lucknow itself, a total of Rs 5805 crores was released during 2010-11. Out of this, Rs 31 crore was to be spent on pulse polio program. Over Rs 671 crores was the budget for maintenance of office and purchase of ambulances. Rest of the amount was to spent on travel across the state, training of medical officers.
For the rest of the state, a total of 3092 was released for similar schemes.
That means a total of Rs 10, 000 crore rupees were meant for the exclusive usage of department of family welfare managed by Mayawati's close confidante Babu Singh Kushwaha.
Experts say the problem is with the method of disbursement of this money.
"I warned them not to split the department, wrote to the chief secretary, they didn’t listen. If you manage your paper trail well, you can run away with the money," said Sujata Rao.
Almost 80 per cent of this money was being released without floating any tender.
Why did Mayawati ignore the Centre's suggestion not to split the health ministry?
Why did she chose Babu Singh Kushwaha to be the head of the meatier portfolio of family welfare?
Was a proper audit being done by the UP government of the expenditure it claimed it was incurring from the 10 thousand crore kitty?
Who was the beneficiary of this totally non transparent mechanism of disbursal of money?
Is this the same person behind the murder of 3 CMOs in Lucknow?
CNN-IBN has also found out Dr BP Singh, the CMO murdered on April 2, 2011 was under pressure allegedly from Dhananjay Singh to release payment of Rs 56 lakh towards maintenance of 28 ambulances. Ambulances which according to police were not even operational, yet another reflection of the ease with which money meant for better health facilities could be siphoned off.
Comments
0 comment