PMC turning blind eye to funds misuse case?

Even after corporators prove health officer promised NRI patient Rs 1 lakh meant for BPL patients, PMC top brass dither on taking concrete action

Almost a week after Congress corporators exposed how health department officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had issued a letter to KEM hospital promising Rs 1 lakh towards the medical expenses of an NRI patient from funds meant for Below the Poverty Line (BPL) patients, the civic body is yet to take any concrete action against the officials concerned.

Shrugging off the responsibility, Dr R R Pardeshi, chief medical officer, PMC, said the funds were promised but not delivered and so there was no case to be made out."The PMC didn't suffer any financial loss as the payment was done entirely by the NRI family only and no part was given by the civic body. That's why we don't see the need to do any inquiry further and no instructions have been given to the department," said Pardeshi.

The letter sent to KEM hospital bears the signature of Dr S T Pardeshi, deputy medical officer, PMC, and it states that the NRI patient should not be charged Rs 1 lakh to be paid by PMC under BPL Funds.

Even as sources said that Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak had asked the civic body to file a police complaint in the issue, Naresh Zurmure, additional commissioner, said that they had decided to get a few more details before taking any action.

"We learnt that the NRI family had produced a ration card and supporting documents under BPL category to get the letter. Hence, the main culprit is the person who issued the BPL category ration cards to an NRI family with sufficient income. Also, we learnt that this family didn't directly approach the PMC but some middleman was involved. That's why taking action might be difficult as we can't point fingers saying they did fraud as they didn't even approach directly," said Zurmure.

Zurmure said that the PMC had not made the payment even though it was promised, making the task of seeking police action unnecessary. The health chief also said that it was now the job of the Collector's office to inquire into who issued the false documents to the family and that the PMC's role was over. "Why ask us about this case? They came with us with relevant documents and our department people did the needful. The Collector's office or government office in-charge should inquire into how they got their hands on BPL documents," said Pardeshi.