CAG Finds Loopholes In Running Of 108-Ambulance Services

The project, launched with the commendable objective of providing free emergency ambulance services to the needy, however, failed to attend to 28,102 calls due to non-availability of vehicles.

It was implemented only in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha districts, the report said, adding, laxity of the department resulted in the project not being extended to other districts despite availability of funds.

Instances of flouting tender procedures in procurement of delivery vans and fabrication of the same into ambulances were noticed.

Violation of contractual provisions resulting in undue benefits to the agencies was also found.

The delivery vehicles were converted as ambulances without reckoning the safety aspects of ambulances via-a-vis delivery vans.

The service was started in Thiruvananthapuram in May 2010 and in Alappuzha in April 2012.

The state-level committee to monitor implementation of the project in the state did not meet even once, the report said.

The government had faced heat after Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan called for a high-level enquiry into alleged irregularities during the running of the project by ZHL, against which Rajasthan police had registered a case.

Ravi Krishna, son of former Union minister Vayalar Ravi, is a director in the company.

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