Dera Sacha Sauda urges followers to support BJP after Gurmeet Singh's parole release
New Delhi: A day after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Singh was released on a 20-day parole, the sect's headquarters issued a call for its followers to support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The appeal was made discreetly during a satsang at the Dera's headquarters in Sirsa on Thursday night, urging the attendees to mobilize additional voters within their local communities.
According to sources, the message was not delivered publicly from the satsang stage as in previous instances. Instead, office-bearers positioned themselves among the attendees and conveyed the directive quietly, asking followers to vote for the BJP and bring at least five additional voters to the polling booths.
Singh, who is currently staying at his Baghpat ashram, reportedly sent the message through an office-bearer in Sirsa. The Dera has traditionally supported the BJP, particularly in Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan. However, following Rahim’s 2017 conviction for raping two of his disciples, the Dera had not openly endorsed any party in the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
This parole release comes just after Singh’s recent 21-day parole, which ended on September 2. His multiple paroles over the past two years have often coincided with elections, drawing scrutiny over the timing of his releases. In 2023, Rahim received a 30-day parole that coincided with the Haryana panchayat elections, while in 2022, he was granted three paroles, one of which overlapped with the Punjab assembly elections.
The Dera’s support for the BJP is seen as a significant move, given its influence among Dalit communities in the region. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Dera openly backed the BJP, contributing to the party’s strong performance in Haryana.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
