While the Samajwadi Party was in Opposition, the scam in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was its biggest weapon against the Mayawati government.
But ever since it came to power, the Samajwadi Party government suddenly seems to be going unexpectedly soft on the accused in the NRHM scams.
The CBI officials now admit that the state government’s “lack of cooperation” is proving to be the biggest stumbling block in investigations.
“We had sought permission for prosecution of 22 doctors found guilty of swindling the NRHM funds but it has been over two months and the state government is holding back the permission. We reminded the principal health secretary on Friday but he was non-committal on the issue. We do not know whether the state government is at all keen on bringing the guilty to book,” said a senior CBI official.
Government sources said that the matter related to prosecution of doctors had been referred to the advocate general for his opinion and the latter was taking an unduly long time to send his opinion.
The state government, interestingly, has not yet suspended senior IAS officer Pradeep Shukla who was arrested by the CBI on May 10. Pradeep Shukla was the mission director and principal health secretary when the NRHM scam took place. According to service rules, any government employee who has spent 24 hours in prison should be placed under suspension but in Pradeep Shukla’s case, he has spent 70 days in jail without inviting any further action from the government. An official in the appointment department — that deals with such issues — said on condition of anonymity that no file pertaining to Pradeep Shukla’s arrest or suspension had been received by the department.