Fact finding team to review Congress' performance in LS polls, says Dy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday said a fact-finding committee would be formed to analyse the party’s performance in the recently concluded Parliamentary elections.
The ruling Congress won nine seats while the BJP and its ally JD(S) got 19 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.
Though the Congress succeeded in increasing its tally from just one in 2019 LS election to nine this time, it was behind its target of winning 15.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with party office bearers in KPCC office, Shivakumar said, “Our performance in the Parliamentary elections has not been up to our expectations except in Kalyana Karnataka region. We expected more than 15 seats, but it hasn’t happened.”
The committee will ascertain what went wrong, analyse the party’s performance in each assembly constituency and submit a report, Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, said.
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The Deputy CM pointed out that the party won nine seats against the media prediction of two.
“But we are not satisfied with the result. We could have won four to five more seats."
Shivakumr said he and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will hold four meetings to review party’s performance.
The report will be submitted to a team of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) when it visits Karnataka to review the election results.
On the assembly by-polls following the resignation of three MLAs after they won the Lok Sabha elections, Shivakumar said three teams have been formed to oversee preparations for the by-elections.
“One of the teams has already submitted a report on Shiggaon constituency. The Sandur constituency report will be submitted by July 3. Minister Chaluvarayaswamy will submit a report on the Channapatna constituency,” he said.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was Shiggaon MLA in Haveri district, JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy was Channapatna MLA in Ramanagara district and Congress leader E Tukaram represented the Sandur assembly seat in Ballari.
Their resignations after their victory in the Lok Sabha election have necessitated the assembly bypolls.
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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.
