The Himcare Scheme echoed in the State Assembly on Friday, with the opposition BJP accusing Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of trying to defame the scheme, launched by the previous BJP government for the benefit of the common people in Himachal Pradesh, as a pretext to stop it.
The Chief Minister, on the other hand, said the state government had ordered a vigilance inquiry into the scheme after an internal audit of the Himcare scheme in two premier medical college hospitals in the state revealed irregularities worth over Rs 100 crore.
He said the seriousness of the irregularities could be gauged from the fact that a male beneficiary allegedly underwent a “uterus operation” under this scheme, and another patient was provided expired eye lenses.
Sukhu said there was no logic in stopping Himcare benefits, but the government wanted to ensure that people get proper healthcare services. He said the scheme had not been implemented in the manner it was should have been. He said Rs 441 crore had been spent on the Himcare scheme by the previous BJP government. The Chief Minister said the government would not tolerate corruption and would investigate and take action wherever such irregularities come to fore.
Sukhu also denied BJP allegations that he had always given wrong information inside or outside the House, and said he always spoke based on facts.
Raising the issue after Question Hour, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur alleged that right from the very beginning, the Chief Minister had been saying that that the Himcare scheme would not be stopped, yet continued to defame the scheme it in one way or the other. He questioned how the Chief Minister could claim there was a scam in the scheme when the inquiry had not yet been conducted.
He asked the Chief Minister to apologise for misleading the House and people by earlier citing irregularities of Rs 1,100 crore in the scheme. He said all newspapers had widely reported that figure, while now he was referring to irregularities of Rs 100 crore. He added that the Chief Minister has a habit of making misleading statements on various issues. Thakur said, “The CM should speak responsibly in the House.” He demanded that the government order an inquiry by a sitting High Court judge if there were irregularities in the Himcare scheme.
Thakur said that the previous BJP government had spent Rs 441 crore on the scheme during its tenure, while the present government had spent Rs 972 crore, out of which payments worth Rs 400 crore were still pending. He alleged that beneficiaries were being denied treatment under the healthcare scheme, which had received appreciation from across the country.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally lauded the scheme. He even asked me to make a presentation before Chief Ministers at a meeting of the Council of Chief Ministers, where several states expressed interest in adopting it,” he added.
Earlier, when the House reassembled in the morning, Jai Ram Thakur tried to raise an issue but was not allowed to do so. This led BJP legislators to boycott the Question Hour, which continued with participation from Congress MLAs.
Also read: Sukhu govt failed on guarantees, only raised taxes: Anurag Thakur
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