Gurgaon: Records of the Haryana health department’s Faridabad district office were seized on Monday in connection with alleged irregularities in fuel billing for four ambulances deployed at BK Hospital, where suspected embezzlement of around Rs 50 lakh has been flagged.A state-level fact-finding committee has been constituted to examine the case. The four-member panel comprises the deputy director (administration), chief accounts officer, state NGO coordinator and deputy civil surgeon (referral transport), Hisar. It has been directed to access all original records and transaction details and submit its report by Nov 5.“The committee will examine fuel expenditure, expenses incurred during periods when vehicles were non-operational, fuel movement and consumption, and transactions through fuel cards. It will also scrutinise monitoring and approval mechanisms, assess possible financial irregularities and identify those responsible for any lapses,” said Dr Virender Yadav, director of Haryana National Health Mission, who visited Faridabad on Monday.The probe will also examine how fuel bills continued to be cleared despite the vehicles being off the road, who authorised the transactions and why the existing monitoring mechanisms failed to flag the discrepancies.The allegations first came to light when state headquarters analysed fuel-card transactions and found refuelling entries against ambulances that were not operational. As TOI had earlier reported, two ambulances, HR38GV3491 and HR38GV9863, had remained parked near the hospital mortuary for three to four months, but their fuel cards recorded diesel purchases until Oct 11.The other two, HR38Z0951 and HR38GV1670, had been at the workshop since Jan and Aug, respectively. Even so, their fuel cards recorded refills until Sept 16 and Oct 11, respectively. A hospital source had estimated that nearly Rs 50 lakh worth of fuel was consumed against the four vehicles.The deputy civil surgeon had earlier described the discrepancy as a prima facie indication of serious financial irregularities, potentially amounting to embezzlement of govt funds.On Oct 20, BK Civil Hospital chief medical officer Dr Jayant Ahuja had constituted an inquiry committee and directed it to submit its report within 15 days. The matter has since drawn state-level scrutiny.
