(Tribune)
The 108 Emergency Response Service, a private partner providing emergency ambulance services, not only parked funds to the tune of Rs 18.85 crore but also failed to respond to 21.56 per cent of the emergency calls in the prescribed response time, reveals the new CAG report tabled by the Uttarakhand Government in the Assembly on Wednesday.The audit report says Rs 172.86 crore was released to the private partner between 2008-09 and 2015-2016 against which the operator spent around Rs 154.01 crore.
Though the operator had sufficient funds, more funds were released. “As a result, the operator had funds ranging from 120 per cent to 384 per cent, in excess of the required quarterly expenditure. An amount of Rs 18.85 crore was lying unspent with the operator by the end of March 2016,” points out the report.The CAG also found out that the operator procured medical consumables to be kept in ambulances at 21.86 per cent to 133.86 per cent higher rates in 2015-2016 which led to a loss of Rs 45 lakh.
