Rajasthan government had threatened the freedom of expression of national daily Dainik Bhaskar for exposing the wastage of huge quantities of life-saving vaccines within the Congress-ruled Gehlot state of Rajasthan. Despite being allegedly warned by the Rajasthan government, Bhaskar has investigated and made another big disclosure and has brought to light a 100 crore scam in the state.
The national daily reported that as many as 20,000 unusable oxygen concentrators were purchased after stabilisation of the second wave of Covid-19 from private vendors at an inflated price of Rs 1 Lakh whereas the actual price of it came down to Rs 35000-40000. However, the alleged scams continue being run in Rajasthan and the bloated prices of oxygen concentrators have once again put the Gehlot government in question.
First Punjab, now Rajasthan#Pandemic profiteering is in vogue in @INCIndia ruled Sates
Bloated prices of O2 concentrators purchased by Rajasthan Govt reeks of corruption@RahulGandhi Ji, drop white paper shenanigans & focus on these dark, murky dealingshttps://t.co/GfNCnXYQC5 pic.twitter.com/4WopPKd6e1
— Dr Harsh Vardhan (Modi Ka Pariwar) (@drharshvardhan) July 2, 2021
Extensively reported by TFI, Dainik Bhaskar ran a series of investigative reports exposing how doses of Covid vaccines were being wasted in Rajasthan by dumping them in garbage bins and burying them underground. It had reported that not less than 500 vials containing a minimum of 2,500 doses had been procured from the dustbins of vaccinations centres and garbage bins in several public hospitals across many districts in Rajasthan and scores of doses were found buried deep underground. The state had reportedly, also wasted over 11.5 lakh doses of Covid vaccines amounting to over 7% of the total wastage.
Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma soon sent out an intimidating threat to the publication, stating that appropriate action would be taken against journalists investigating without disclosing their true identities and writing misleading articles. Mounting an attack on the journalists involved in covering the story, Raghu Sharma said, “The reporters associated with this (Dainik Bhaskar) report wrongfully impersonated senior officials of the Rajasthan Health Department and representatives from WHO, thereby forcing and pressuring concerned authorities to provide them with the vials. These vials were not found from any dustbin.”
इस खबर के लिए संबंधित पत्रकारों ने स्वयं को गलत तरीके से स्वास्थ्य विभाग, राजस्थान का उच्चाधिकारी एवं WHO का प्रतिनिधि बताया एवं संबंधित कर्मचारियों पर दबाव डालकर उनसे इन वाइल्स को प्राप्त किया। यह वाइल्स किसी डस्टबिन में नहीं मिली हैं। (2/5)
— Dr. Raghu Sharma (@RaghusharmaINC) May 31, 2021
Strangely, the Editors Guild Of India and the other star “journalists” who hate PM Modi, Yogi Adityanath and Amit Shah, calling them dictators, fascists, and authoritarians kept mum on the open intimidation and attempt at muzzling of press freedom by Congress government in Rajasthan.
This is not the first time that the Rajasthan government has been exposed for its alleged lies and failure to put up a strong front against the second wave of the pandemic. Recently, an appalling development had come to light from the state where life-support ventilators belonging to the PM Cares Fund pool were being leased out by government hospitals to private institutes at exorbitant rates.
