The AAP on Monday staged a protest outside LNJP Hospital over the alleged Rs 650-crore DGHS scam.
The protests were led by AAP Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bhardwaj. During the agitation, party workers formed a human chain holding placards featuring CM Rekha Gupta and former Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Vatsala Aggarwal, while questioning the nature of the relationship between the two.
The party demanded the resignations of both the CM and the Health Minister. Bharadwaj said, “The BJP itself is claiming Dr Vatsala Aggarwal has carried out a Rs 650-crore scam while serving as DGHS. The Rekha Gupta government changed the rules by directing that no hospital would be allowed to make direct purchases and that all procurement would instead be routed through Aggarwal’s Central Procurement Agency (CPA). The government must now explain what its relationship with Aggarwal is and why does it warrant such extraordinary favour.”
Bhardwaj further alleged that Agrawal was not the most senior officer, yet all senior officials were bypassed and she was appointed DGHS by CM Rekha Gupta. “She was made DGHS despite a vigilance inquiry pending against her. The government also stripped all hospitals of their procurement powers and concentrated those powers in the hands of a single DGHS,” the former minister added.
Bhardwaj demanded that Rajiv Rangeela be brought to justice so that he could reveal which politicians had received a share of the Rs 650 crore. “Harsh Malhotra claims that the investigation is still incomplete, but if that is true, why was the principal accused allowed to escape? The investigation will now never be completed. Harsh Malhotra will keep saying that the investigation is ongoing because the very person who was supposed to be investigated was allowed to flee by the ACB under his government’s watch,” he alleged.
