BJP paid all election trip costs of Himanta: Assam CM Office
Guwahati, Feb 3: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has never gone for election campaigning on official expenses and every such cost was borne by the BJP, his office said on Saturday.
The chief minister's office issued the statement on expenditures in response to allegations regarding the use of public funds for chartering flights for BJP activities and attending weddings, as reported by two media outlets.
"No expenditure of HCM Dr @himantabiswa election campaigns are borne by the state exchequer. All expenses, including flights, are paid for by the political party via bank transfer/cheque," the CMO said in a post on X.
It, however, said whenever Sarma visits any district in the state or neighbouring states for official engagements, there could be social functions such as condolence meetings or weddings that coincide with the visit.
"Compared to all the official visits undertaken by HCM since May 2021, such coincidences are far and few. It is appalling to see the authors of this story make sweeping conjectures based on incidental social programmes which HCM has attended," the CMO said.
Referring to the news article, which hyperlinked several past tweets of the Chief Minister, his office said using a single tweet from a given day to assume it was the sole agenda of that very day reeks of a "malicious attempt to spread disinformation and dishonest intention of the authors".
Earlier during the day, two digital media organisations -- New Delhi-based The Wire and Guwahati-based The Crosscurrent -- in a joint investigative report claimed that Sarma used state government funds amounting to crores of rupees to hire helicopters and chartered planes to campaign for the BJP, both within and outside the state.
Slamming the report, the CMO said, "This story by 'The Wire' is mischievous, misleading and a lazy hit job based on selective reading of handful of tweets".
Citing RTI replies, the media portals stated that Sarma had also hired chartered planes with taxpayers' money to attend a number of weddings, apart from party meetings.
This story by media outlet “The Wire” is mischievous, misleading and a lazy hit job based on selective reading of handful of tweets.
— Chief Minister Assam (@CMOfficeAssam) February 3, 2024
The facts are as follows
1. No expenditure of HCM Dr @himantabiswa election campaigns are borne by the State exchequer. All expenses, including… https://t.co/zb6ZdvSRtz
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
