AGARTALA, February 27 (TIWN): Negligence of health and family welfare department resulted in loss of Rs. 1.06 crore. According to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India pointed out that the State Government set up (March 1997) the Tripura State Illness Assistance Fund (TSIAF) for financing the poor families living Below Poverty Line (BPL) for long term and expensive specialized medical treatment outside the State under the central scheme “Assistance to State Government towards expenditure on hospitalization of the poor”.

Accordingly, a fund of Rs. 6 crore was created with contributions from the state government (Rs. 4 crore) and the central government (Rs. 2 crore) in the ratio of 2:1 respectively as one time grant. The amount was invested in two term deposit accounts of Rs. 5.50 crore (September 1997) and Rs. 0.55 crore (October 1997) with the UBI, Agartala Branch to earn maximum interest under monthly interest scheme.

Test check (January 2005) of records of the Director of Health Services (DHS), Tripura revealed that at the instance of the government an amount of Rs. 2 crore was withdrawn (July 1998) out the term deposit of Rs. 5.50 crore and kept in PL account of the DHS. Again the amount was withdrawn from PL account in November 2003 and credited to government account (Major Head 0210) in the same month. The withdrawal of Rs. 2 crore from the corpus of the society and keeping it in PL account for 5 years and subsequently depositing it to government account for one year was irregular. Subsequently, the health and family welfare department released (September 2004) Rs. 2 crore to the health directorate, which invested (September 2004) the amount in term deposit account in the name of TSIAF with Tripura Gramin Bank, Agartala @ 6.10 percent interest per annum.

Thus, premature withdrawal of Rs. 2 crore and retention of the same in PL account of the DHS for over five years resulted in loss of Rs. 1.06 crore. Besides, the scheme for catering to the needs of all the BPL patients suffered due to keeping the amount of the corpus of the society for six years (July 1998 to August 2004).