Govt spends Rs 20 million on VIP treatment abroad
The government has, in the last two years, spent over Rs 20 million on medical treatment of public officials, Two-thirds of the amount was spent on treating politicians, who made less than half the list.
In an affidavit in response to a notice filed in the Delhi high court, a Union government affidavit claimed Rs 20,436,305 had been spent on "treatment of public servants outside India" in fiscal 1995-96 and 1996-97.
Though rules stipulate that public officials applying for such benefits have to satisfy the panel set up for this purpose that such treatment cannot be made available in India, the committee gave reasons for recommendation in only 16 of the cases.
Of the 16 political beneficiaries, M M Kidwai, MP; the wife of Maharaj Manbendra Singh, MP; Suraj Kanwar Shah, MP; Kanshi Ram, MP; Ram Niwas Mirdha, and K N Sarang, MP, are yet to provide details of expenditure. The other political figures have spent Rs 15 million on medical expenses abroad.
The 21 other recipients of government funds included, among others, secretaries, top officials from public sector undertakings, the customs and the revenue departments. No middle or lower management official has been treated abroad at government expense in the last two years though government rules state that everybody covered by the Central Government Health Scheme is eligible for the facility.
Recipients of government largesse include the wife of Income Tax Commissioner S K Sharma, Fifth Union Pay Commission Chairman Justice S R Pandian, National Thermal Power Corporation Managing Director Rajinder Singh, Central Vigilance Commissioner S Y Giri and Secretary in the Union government I Choudhary.
P Upendra, MP, then Union minister Ajit Kumar Panja, then Union minister C K Jaffer Sharief, then minister Sukh Ram, Ankus R Tope, MP, T S R Bhosle and Pondicherry Lieutenant Governor Rajendra Kumari Bajpai also figure in the list.
Though funding is not usually given to pensioners, the rules were relaxed in the cases of former prime minister V P Singh and former Jammu and Kashmir governor Girish Chandra 'Gary' Saxena. Neither the problem nor the reason for recommendation were mentioned in either of these cases.
While the government claimed the best possible equipment was available in the country for heart operations, joint replacement and leukemia, it still sent officials abroad for treatment of these medical problems.
Sukh Ram, who went abroad to get an angiography done on a recommendation from the Ram Manohar Lohia, did not get it done at available facilities within the country. Rs 2,321,636 was spent on his medical treatment abroad. Similarly, $ 34,432 was spent on Rajendra Kumari Bajpai for treatment of chronic complications resulting from diabetes.
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