Being the capital of the country, basic facilities like health and education have always been important for the people of Delhi. It is a different matter that the public has always been getting tingling. The AAP government headed by Arvind Kejriwal, who is holding 11 years on power in Delhi, beat up Dhindora instead of doing public interest work, as now the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are coming, which is leading to the dedication of Kejriwal government. These reports were not presented in the assembly as Arvind Kejriwal or the Chief Minister of Atishi.
Two new CAG reports have exposed Delhi’s health services and social schemes. First report In Delhi’s health system, there has been a plight of Delhi’s health system, which includes talks ranging from ICU, ambulances and bed deficiency to Kovid-19 during Kovid-19. Second CAG Report Has revealed disturbances of more than Rs 220 crore in the Delhi government’s Ladli scheme, which have serious issues such as fake registration, financial negligence and not reaching the beneficiaries.
Both these reports suggest that the Delhi government did not use the resources received for the good of the public and due to mismanagement, the common people were upset. These reports have questioned the working style of the government and underlined the strict need for improvement. Let us understand both these issues in detail and know what happened to the people of Delhi.
CAG report on Delhi’s health services
CAG reported the condition of government hospitals in Delhi Perfectly Is done. Out of a total of 27 hospitals, 14 do not even have ICU facility, which can prove to be fatal for serious patients. Apart from this, there are no ambulances in 12 hospitals, that is, it is difficult to reach the hospital on time if needed. There is a shortage of blood banks in 16 hospitals, making arranging blood in emergency a major crisis.
The AAP government of Delhi has been telling the Mohalla clinics of which its major achievement Condition also pathetic Is. 21 such clinics do not have toilets, 15 do not have power backup facilities, and 6 do not even have tables for doctors. There is no system for the disabled in 12 clinics, which removes the claims of the government’s government. These situations clearly show that basic health facilities are also far from the people of Delhi.
Abuse of Kovid funds received from central government in Delhi
When the whole world was struggling during the Kovid-19 epidemic, the situation in Delhi was also frightening. The central government had given a fund of Rs 787.91 crore to Delhi to deal with this crisis, but surprisingly only Rs 582.84 crore was spent. The remaining 205.07 crore rupees remained without use, as a result of which the patients could not get the necessary facilities.
The Delhi government received Rs 52 crore for the recruitment and salary of health workers, but out of this, 30.52 crore was not spent. This means that no concrete steps were taken to overcome the shortage of doctors and nurses. Rs 119.85 crore was allocated for medicines, PPE kits and other medical supply, but Rs 83.14 crore was not used. The price of this negligence had to be paid to the people of Delhi by giving their lives, because at that time there was a huge shortage of oxygen, beds and medicines.
Bed and staff shortage in Delhi government hospitals
The Delhi government had promised to add 32,000 new beds from 2016-17 to 2020-21, but in fact only 1,357 beds were added, which is just 4.24% of the target. The effect of this deficiency was that in many hospitals, the occupancy of the beds ranged from 101% to 189%. That is, two patients had to be kept on one bed or many patients had to take treatment on the floor. Staff status is also no less worrying.
8,194 posts in Delhi’s government hospitals and health departments are lying vacant. Nursing staff is reduced by 21% and paramedical staff is reduced by 38%. Especially in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital and Janakpuri Super Specialty Hospital, the situation is worse, where doctors were found to be 50-74% and nursing staff 73-96%. Due to this deficiency, patients have to wait long for treatment and many times the right care is not available.
Delhi government delays projects, machines deteriorated
Projects to build three new hospitals started in Delhi, but they increased huge delays and costs. Indira Gandhi Hospital delayed 5 years and the cost increased by Rs 314.9 crore. Burari Hospital was 6 years late, which increased by Rs 41.26 crore. At the same time, MA Dental Hospital (Phase-2) delayed 3 years and an additional Rs 26.36 crore was spent. These projects started during the previous government, but the current government failed to complete them. Apart from this, the necessary equipment in many hospitals is also deteriorated.
Patients had to wait for 12 months for surgery
According to the CAG report, patients had to wait for 2-3 months for large surgery at Lok Nayak Hospital and 6-8 months for burn and plastic surgery. Uncle Nehru was waiting for 12 months for pediatric surgery at the Hospital. In many places, X-rays, CT scans and ultrasound machines remained useless, due to which patients could not get diagnosis at the right time.
Lack of oxygen and ambulance in Delhi hospitals
The shortage of oxygen during Kovid shook Delhi, and the CAG report states that there was no system of oxygen supply in 8 hospitals. This was the time when people were looking for oxygen cylinders on the streets. Along with this, 12 hospitals did not have an ambulance facility and the CATS ambulances were also lacking.
There was no concrete arrangement for patients to reach the hospital on time, due to which many people lost their lives. The situation in Mohalla clinics also worsened. There was no power backup in 15 clinics, that is, the treatment of patients used to come to a standstill. Amidst all this, the claims of the government proved to be aerial and the public had to face a lot of trouble.
220 crore scam in Ladli scheme
The Ladli scheme was launched by the then Chief Minister Sheila Dixit in 2008, which aims to promote girls’ education and help up to Rs 1 lakh at the age of 18 years. But Arvind Kejriwal’s government also carried out rigging in this scheme. The CAG report has revealed irregularities of more than Rs 220 crore in it.
Report UnderThe amount of Rs 41 crore was paid more and an amount of Rs 618.38 crore is undeclared. The Department of Women and Child Development took laxity to verify the details of the beneficiaries, due to which there was a large -scale duplication. More than 36,000 such cases were reported, where the name, date of birth and parents’ details were the same. As of December 2022, 16,546 duplicate and 131 triple registrations were found in 8.84 lakh active beneficiaries, causing a loss of Rs 11.49 crore.
Fake registrations, 9% beneficiary crosses 18 years
The audit also revealed that in 20,127 cases where the name or date of birth was found, Rs 29.23 crore was incorrectly distributed. The biggest drawback was that until May 2023, Aadhaar verification was not included in the scheme. Due to this, many registrations of the same beneficiary were done and forgery increased. About 9% of the beneficiaries enrolled after the age of 18, causing financial loss of Rs 180.92 crore. There were 78,065 beneficiaries who had crossed the eligible age at the time of registration, yet money was deposited in their accounts. In many cases the column of the date of birth was empty, making it clear that there was a huge lack of transparency and accountability in the system.
The beneficiaries did not even get money
Out of 8.84 lakh active beneficiaries in Delhi, 4.9 lakh girls, ie 55%, could not take advantage of the scheme despite being eligible. Rs 236.03 crore of 1.26 lakh beneficiaries aged 18-20 years, Rs 224.56 crore of Rs. 1.18 lakhs aged 20-26, and Rs 157.78 crore of 77,000 girls above 26 years have not been distributed yet.
Apart from this, there were 1 lakh 74 thousand 960 cases in which the beneficiaries used to meet the termination criteria, but they were not settled. The department says that it had issued public notices to reach the eligible beneficiaries, but the audit found that notices were issued only twice on 10 September 2020 and 17 June 2022. This effort to run the scheme on such a large scale was insufficient and information could not be reached to the beneficiaries.
69% reduction in registration of Ladli scheme
The number of registrations in Ladli scheme has declined hugely every year. 1,39,773 beneficiaries were registered in 2009-10, which decreased to just 43,415 in 2020-21, ie 69% reduction. Registration at birth also decreased from 23,871 to 3,153. These statistics show that the plan is gradually losing its importance. The purpose of education and empowerment of girls could not be fulfilled. Fund wastage, fake registration and mismanagement thwarted the scheme. The government started trying to include direct profit transfer (DBT) system in May 2023 to fix it, but by then it was too late.
Needed girls did not get help
Despite such big disturbances in the Ladli scheme, there is no attempt to decide the responsibility. The department neither bothered to correct the data of the beneficiaries nor paid attention to the correct use of funds. The use of heavy funds such as Rs 618.38 crore like Rs. 618.38 crore shows that there was a lack of seriousness about the plan. The most disadvantage of this was to those girls who were entitled to this help, but they did not get anything.
Both CAG reports have put a big question mark on the functioning of the Delhi government. Lack of facilities in health services and waste of Kovid funds to fake and negligence in the Ladli scheme shows how much public interests were ignored. The people of Delhi have paid a heavy price for these deficiencies, whether it is longing for treatment or not getting help for education.
