Staff in govt hosps fudged attendance, claims NGO
‘2 Registers Had Been Maintained ’
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:18.05.2019
A Chennai-based NGO, working on anti-corruption and governance issues, on Friday alleged that attendance records of housekeeping and security staff at government hospitals across the state were fudged over the last three years, leading to the government being over-invoiced to the tune of ₹35 crore.
Arappor Iyakkam, released copies of the attendance records which it said were obtained from whistleblowers, has filed a complaint with Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) submitting all evidence.
The contractor supplying housekeeping and security staff is Padmavathi Hospitality Services, a company allegedly linked to former chief secretary Rama Mohan Rao. The DVAC, for the past two years, has been inquiring into whether there was malfeasance in the tender awarded.
Arappor convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said the contractor maintained two registers — one in which the actual number of staff mark their attendance and another where numbers are inflated. The latter is then given to the Directorate of Medial Education (DME) for claiming payments from the government.
Photocopies of the two registers show a difference of 30% in staff attendance.
The idea for the investigation by Arappor came from the health department’s internal inquiry two years ago. The Government Raja Mirasudar hospital in Thanjavur on September 5, 2017, wrote in a report that two attendance registers were being maintained for workers. During inquiry, signatures of housekeeping staff were found fake. The report also flagged over-lapping of staff from one shift to another with night duty workers being made to work in mornings. At Pudukottai Medical college, the register showed 176 housekeeping staff as present, though only 141 were.
Security staff were found working overtime, while biometric attendance, implementation of which is a contract condition, was absent in most hospitals. Records obtained by Arappor showed prevalence of fake attendance of around 30% in the Institute of Child health (ICH) Egmore in April. Internal calculation of mandays and salary paid and that claimed from the government showed the DME was over-invoiced for ₹3.41lakh for ICH in February, Jayaram said. “When extrapolated to 70 hospitals under the DME for the contract period, the loss to the exchequer may be ₹35 crore,” he said.
DME Edwin Joe told TOI he could not answer allegations made by Arappor. “They are finding fault with the system,” he said over a flawed mobile connection. He said he was currently on a holiday.
‘2 Registers Had Been Maintained ’
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:18.05.2019
A Chennai-based NGO, working on anti-corruption and governance issues, on Friday alleged that attendance records of housekeeping and security staff at government hospitals across the state were fudged over the last three years, leading to the government being over-invoiced to the tune of ₹35 crore.
Arappor Iyakkam, released copies of the attendance records which it said were obtained from whistleblowers, has filed a complaint with Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) submitting all evidence.
The contractor supplying housekeeping and security staff is Padmavathi Hospitality Services, a company allegedly linked to former chief secretary Rama Mohan Rao. The DVAC, for the past two years, has been inquiring into whether there was malfeasance in the tender awarded.
Arappor convenor Jayaram Venkatesan said the contractor maintained two registers — one in which the actual number of staff mark their attendance and another where numbers are inflated. The latter is then given to the Directorate of Medial Education (DME) for claiming payments from the government.
Photocopies of the two registers show a difference of 30% in staff attendance.
The idea for the investigation by Arappor came from the health department’s internal inquiry two years ago. The Government Raja Mirasudar hospital in Thanjavur on September 5, 2017, wrote in a report that two attendance registers were being maintained for workers. During inquiry, signatures of housekeeping staff were found fake. The report also flagged over-lapping of staff from one shift to another with night duty workers being made to work in mornings. At Pudukottai Medical college, the register showed 176 housekeeping staff as present, though only 141 were.
Security staff were found working overtime, while biometric attendance, implementation of which is a contract condition, was absent in most hospitals. Records obtained by Arappor showed prevalence of fake attendance of around 30% in the Institute of Child health (ICH) Egmore in April. Internal calculation of mandays and salary paid and that claimed from the government showed the DME was over-invoiced for ₹3.41lakh for ICH in February, Jayaram said. “When extrapolated to 70 hospitals under the DME for the contract period, the loss to the exchequer may be ₹35 crore,” he said.
DME Edwin Joe told TOI he could not answer allegations made by Arappor. “They are finding fault with the system,” he said over a flawed mobile connection. He said he was currently on a holiday.
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