Mira-Bhayandar: The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally issued a show cause notice to the private contractual agency which was hired to provide ambulance services during the Covid-19 pandemic. The notice has asked as to why excessive payments should not be recovered from the agency.
The notice which was issued on June, 21, 2024 stipulated a time frame of three days for the agency to give an explanation. However, when asked about the excessive amount and if the agency had responded, deputy municipal commissioner- Sachin Bangar who himself had issued the notice remained tight lipped, while requesting to seek an answer on the issue from the additional municipal commissioner.
Social activist- Krishna Gupta has alleged massive anomalies and corruption in the ambulance hiring tender aimed at doling out undue monetary benefits amounting more than Rs.2.42 crore to a Vasai-based contractual agency. On the virtue of data obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Gupta stated that the MBMC had roped in the agency to hire 12 ambulances to ferry Covid-19 patients from one hospital to another, or from their homes to the Covid care centres for four months between 3, July, 2020 to 30, November, 2020.
Apart from discrepancy in fares as compared to authorized pricing structure fixed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA), the contractor has also inflated bills under the garb of waiting charges and small split trips/kms.
Moreover, tender conditions envisaging 24-hour services, integration of SPERO App with the toll free 108 ambulance service system, smartphones in each ambulance with adequate internet connectivity were brazenly blown to the wind.
Notably, Gupta had also registered a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) which sought a nod from the state government’s urban development department (UDD) nod for conducting investigations into the complaint. In response the UDD in its letter dated April, 29, 2024 directed the MBMC to submit a detailed report in context to the contract given to a private agency for providing ambulance services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officials Under Scanner.
It has been alleged that a bunch of civic officials including the erstwhile civic chief, gave a free hand to the contractor for violating the mandated guidelines while manipulating the pricing structure and fabricating data of the distance travelled by the ambulances leading to a jump in bills from the legitimate Rs.48,90,746 to Rs.2,91,05,850 thus causing a loss of more than Rs.2.42 crore to the civic exchequer.
