Fund Received, its source and spent for COVID management by RMRC, Bhubaneswar is still denied under RTI Act
Allegation of huge Irregularities and mismanagement of COVID Fund by Dr. Sanghamitra Pati , Director is substantiated due to non-supply of the information.
Utilization of Rs. 80 lakhs of OMC fund for COVID must be put in public domain
We are still hopeful that RMRC will suo moto upload all information about details of expenditure made , fund received, its source and details of money received by the people engaged in COVID work and supply the same under RTI Act for greater transparency in the functioning of RMRC and COVID management. .
Though five months passed, neither PIO supplied the information nor FAA-cum-Director issued any direction to the PIO for supply of the information under RTI Act, rather conspired to keep information secret.
Dear friends
Having heard about huge fund received from various sources and mismanagement of COVID fund by Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, Director, Regional Medical Resource Centre, Bhubaneswar , RTI Application dt. 5.8.20 was submitted to the CPIO of RMRC, Bhubaneswar seeking the following information
1. Date from which RMRC started conducting testing of samples for COVID 19 and provide details of dedicated laboratory available in RMRC.
2. Provide details of type of various tests being carried out at RMRC, Bhubaneswar.
3. Provide no. of scientists, doctors, technicians engaged for various COVID Tests in RMRC. And provide their names.
4. Provide details of other workers, if any engaged by RMRC for COVID Testing work.
5. Provide information about details of procedure/ guidelines followed by RMRC while conducting testing .
6. Provide details of funding support available to RMRC for COVID under various heads , the amount, source of fund with name of agency ( Month-wise from March to July, 20).
7. Provide details of fund obtained from State Govt. and ICMR ( Month-wise).
8. Provide details of fund utilized by RMRC under different heads and balance available ( month-wise).
9. Provide details of incentives given to anybody for COVID work, name and amount paid to each and details of procedure followed for fixation of incentives and copy of decision taken in this regard. .
10. Provide total no. samples received, no. of samples tested , no. of samples found to be positive and negative by RMRC till July ( date-wise) .
11. Provide details of decision taken to preserve samples for further research and no. of samples preserved
12. Provide details of decision, if any taken by RMRC to sponsor project to carry out any research for prevention of COVID 19
In response to RTI Application, the CPIO supplied the information on 3.9.20 which was found incomplete. The CPIO deliberately did not provide major information and kept it in secret. These are as follows.
|
Information sought for |
Information supplied y the CPIO |
Remarks |
|
6.Provide details of funding support available to RMRC for COVID under various heads , the amount, source of fund with name of agency ( Month-wise from March to July, 20).
|
The CPIO has mentioned that Odisha COVID 19 epidemology funded by Odisha Mining Corporation and Sero Surveillance of COVID in Jharkhand |
The CPIO has not provided details of amount received month-wise which was most important. At the behest of Director, the CPIO kept secret. |
|
7.Provide details of fund obtained from State Govt. and ICMR ( Month-wise).
|
The CPIO has just mentioned availability of information in account section |
In fact, the CPIO should collect it from account section and supply it to the information-seeker. |
|
8.Provide details of fund utilized by RMRC under different heads and balance available ( month-wise).
|
DO |
DO |
|
Provide details of incentives given to anybody for COVID work, name and amount paid to each and details of procedure followed for fixation of incentives and copy of decision taken in this regard. .
|
No Response |
The CPIO has suppressed the information, as many Doctors including Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, Director has taken huge money which is not permissible under the statute. |
2. Having failed to get the information, I filed first appeal dt. 14.9.20 requesting First Appellate Authority-cum- Director, RMRC to hear my case and direct the CPIO to supply the information free of cost.
3. On 25.9.20, The FAA wrote a letter intimating me about dt. 8.10.20 fixed for hearing of the appeal petition. As it is not mandatory for appellant to attend the hearing , I opted out from the hearing and waited the order of the FAA due to COVID situation.
4. On 6.10.20, Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, FAA wrote a letter apprising me that “ the CPIO of this centre has been affected by COVID 19 and he is under treatment and it will take time for recovery . The date for appearing the hearing will be intimated shortly when the CPIO will be available after recovery from the COVID -19 . In fact , the information sought for was in the account section. The FAA could have directed the account section to supply the information without waiting the CPIO.. But the FAA did not issue any direction.
5. On 1.12.20, the Dr. Sanghamitra Pati, Director-cum-FAA sent copy of her order dt. 20.11.20 . The order is very interesting and disturbing. In her order she mentioned that “ the Appellant is no more interested as he is satisfied with the information already supplied to him by the CPIO and the appeal is disposed off.” In fact , in my appeal petition I have clearly mentioned about denial of information by the CPIO and requested for supply of the complete information. How she could draw conclusion that I was satisfied with the information. As Dr. Sanghamitra Pati is involved in taking huge money from COVID fund, she kept the information secret. The allegation of misutilisation of fund got more substantiated.
6. To find out how much fund has been given by OMC, Bhubaneswar, RTI application dt. was submitted to PIO, office of Odisha Mining Corporation to supply details of fund given to RMRC. OMC supplied the information that Rs. 80 lakh has been given to RMRC . Nobody knows how this money has been spent . RTI was filed to understand the details of utilization of money . But Dr. Samnghamitra Pati consciously withheld this information apprehending that she would be exposed.
Story does not end here. More information about misutilisation and misappropriation of fund by RMRC will be exposed very soon. Fight will continue till recovery of money illegally taken by Dr. sanghamitra Pati and 52 Doctors and 60 employees which is not at all permissible . Complaint has been filed to different forum/ authorities seeking for inquiry and audit of huge fund distributed mindlessly in RMRC. The highest recipient of COVID fund is Dr. Sanghamitra Pati.
Pradip Pradhan
M-9937843482
Date- 16.1.21
No comments:
Post a Comment