SHILLONG: The CSWO has strongly opposed the handing over of the medical college and hospital project in Jhalupara on PPP mode to the KPC group headed by Kali Pradip Chaudhuri, who has a case against him in the Enforcement Directorate.
In a statement issued on Sunday, CSWO said the proposal prepared by the IFC (International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group), on the Shillong Medical College PPP Project, submitted to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, mentions that “it would be essential to pull in well-experienced and dedicated private sector healthcare players who would commit to the development of world class medical college while keeping the budgetary constraints”.
It is reported by a California-based weekly paper that Kali Pradip Chaudhuri had “engaged in fraud, racketeering and corruption” in his dealings, thereby threatening the healthcare of thousands. A case under FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) was registered last year by the Enforcement Directorate.
“This clearly is against the contents of the proposal itself. Handing over the medical college project to this person… with whom our state government signed an MoU and who claims in India to be an NRI and claiming in Bangladesh to be a Bangladeshi, is like putting our healthcare and our security at risk. In fact, an inquiry should be initiated to find out why our government was eager to continue to deal with him when it has been reported about him in the local dailies earlier,” said the CSWO statement.
“The handing over of land to this company is also in violation of the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act 1971,” it added.
The CSWO demanded that the agreement with this company be scrapped and the government should contact the Enforcement Directorate “as the CSWO has complained against Kali Pradip Chaudhuri to the Enforcement Directorate and has received information from sources that the FEMA case has been registered based on our complaints and reports”, said CSWO’s Agnes Kharshiing.
