It’s the season of scams in Congress-ruled Punjab. With less than a year to go before the state assembly polls, the Congress seems to be doing all it can to fill its coffers. So, after selling Covid-19 vaccines to private hospitals at exorbitant rates, the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government has now been caught indulging in a ‘Fateh Kit’ scam. A Fateh kit contains a pulse oximeter, a thermometer, face masks, a steamer, sanitiser, Vitamin C and zinc tablets and some medicines for Covid-19 patients. Interestingly, however, the state government has procured these Covid kits under three different tenders, even though the term of the first tender was six months.
The Punjab government floated a tender in April to procure twenty items including sanitisers, masks, oximeters, thermometers and Covid medicines to be given to Covid patients in a kit. The tender was awarded to the firm that quoted the lowest price, i.e., Rs 837 per kit, and was made valid for a period of six months. According to AAP leader Raghav Chadha, the Congress government procured 50,000 Fateh kits for Rs 1,226 per kit through the second tender. Another order of 1,50,000 kits at Rs 1,338.40 per kit was placed to the same vendor, despite it being an expensive choice than the previous one.
Essentially – the Congress government of Punjab has allegedly bought ‘Fateh Kits’ even above the quoted price in the first tender. As per Raghav Chadha, the first tender was awarded at Rs 837 per kit, but after ordering only a few thousand kits from the vendor at a higher price of Rs 940, a new tender was floated and allotted to another vendor at Rs 1,226 per kit. Chadha also alleged that it had come to light that a firm, which did not have a medical licence, was chosen to deliver the kits to the government.
The opposition has pounced on the Captain Amarinder Singh government for making use of a crisis to allegedly fill its own pockets. “This is a cut and dried case of corruption. It is noteworthy that the firm which was awarded the tender does not even fulfil the criterion of having a drug license. But it was still chosen to deliver the kits to the government. We demand an impartial inquiry into this scam and exemplary punishment to the guilty,” said Sukhbir Singh Badal of the SAD.
The BJP is not mincing its words either. BJP National Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, “This is Punjab’s suit-boot Ki Sarkar. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should break the silence because people want answers. The people of Punjab want to know why the state government is profiteering from the sale of vaccines. Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is silent on the issue.”