Pramod Madhwaraj should be defeated in polls: D K Shivakumar
Udupi, Jan 22: Karnataka PCC president D K Shivakumar on Sunday said former minister Pramod Madhwaraj, who switched to BJP leaving Congress, should be defeated from wherever he contests.
Addressing a Prajadwani convention organised by the party in Udupi, he said it was Congress who made Madhwaraj a minister in his first term as legislator. However, he deceived the party though no Congress worker went along with him.
If he contests elections again from any segment in Udupi, he should be defeated, Shivakumar told Congress workers.
He said Prajadwani yatra is being held to elicit opinion from the people about the problems they face. The party had majority of MLAs in the coastal districts. However, in the last elections, the party lost miserably and this should be corrected, he said.
He alleged that the ruling BJP has scant regard for people's issues and have not kept any promises they made in their manifesto. The senior Congress leader alleged that the BJP indulged in corrupt deals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government had not bothered to care for the families of those who died of oxygen shortage during the pandemic, he charged.
Shivakumar said people of the State are badly in need of change and the results in the coming Assembly elections will prove this.
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Karnataka procured 16 lakh expired RT-PCR kits during Covid wave: D’Cunha commission
Bengaluru: Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s committee has uncovered significant irregularities in the procurement of medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that more than 16 lakh RT-PCR test kits purchased by Karnataka in 2022 under the BJP-led government were either expired or close to their expiry dates.
After irregularities in PPE kit purchases, ventilators have also come under the scanner, with the report highlighting discrepancies amounting to Rs 173.26 crore in purchases made by the Medical Education Department.
The commission has also found that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd. (KSMSCL) that cancelled a supply order for one lakh Rapid Antigen (RAT) kits placed with a Singapore-based company in March 2020 — for delay in supplying — has not recovered the Rs 6.99 crore paid to the company towards the order, as reported by The Hindu on Thursday.
According to the 279-page report on procurements made by the KSMSCL that is compiled in part IV of the report, a payment of Rs 148.84 crore was made by KSMSCL to various suppliers and firms towards procurement of RT-PCR kits from 2020 to 2022.
The Commission’s report, as cited by the publication, stated that there were records indicating procurement of RT-PCR kits, RNA extraction kits and Viral transport media (VTM) of a total value of Rs 106.25 crore during the pandemic in Karnataka. However, according to the report, this procurement was made without administrative approval.
“Since the KSMSCL has failed to discharge its obligation and responsibility, the loss caused to the State exchequer to this extent is required to be replenished by the erring officers and/or officials of the KSMSCL as well as the officers and/or officials of the consignee designated laboratories who received the consignment,” the report said, pegging the losses due to expired kits supplied by companies at Rs 3.11 crore.
In response to the report’s findings, state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao criticised the saffron party for profiting from the pandemic. He promised accountability for the irregularities involving PPE kits and ventilators, stating that those responsible would face punishment.
