Karam Prakash
Patiala, April 16
The Accountant General (AG) has issued a notice to the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers’ (BOCW) Welfare Board and sought an explanation about spending Rs 4.59 crore to purchase the Covid vaccines for labourers, when the central government was jabbing free of cost.
Ironically, the approval of the payment is said to have been taken from the then Chief Minister. The Principal Accountant General (Audit) has already brought the said irregularity into the notice of the BOCW Welfare Board.
FINANCE DEPT APPROACHED
We have already written to the Finance Department for the reimbursement of the remaining fund. —Senior Officials, BOCW Welfare Board
The AG revealed that the labour board provided Rs 7.08 crore to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, to purchase Covid vaccination for 2.2 lakh workers and their family members. Each Covid vaccination dose was purchased for Rs 315.
Checking the records, the AG discovered that 1.45 lakh workers and their family members had received the vaccination, thereby incurring an expenditure of Rs 4.58 crore. Ironically,
the AG couldn’t put its hands on any Utilisation Certificate that is required in such spending.
Notably, the decision to bear the cost of vaccination from the labour welfare fund was taken on May 7, 2021, under the chairmanship of the then Chief Secretary. Of Rs 7.4 crore, the Health Department has already returned around Rs 2.49 crore to the Labour Department after the construction workers moved the Punjab and Haryana Court against the spending of their welfare fund on Covid vaccination.
The AG has now directed the BOCW Welfare Board to recover the rest of the amount i.e. Rs 4.58 crore.
Meanwhile, experts opined that the decision to purchase the vaccines had made the labour board a laughing stock. Moreover, the money owing to the erratic decision of the officials — that was to be spent on different earmarked welfare schemes — was lying blocked for no fault of the workers, they added.
Senior officials of the BOCW Welfare Board, however, said they had already written to the Department
of Finance, seeking the
reimbursement of the remaining fund.
AG notice to labour board for spending Rs. 4.59 cr on ‘free’ vax
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