Vanity dies hard they say, with sense being the first casualty.
The decision of the cash-strapped Punjab government to retain the photo of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the Central government-funded 108 ambulance service at the cost of losing Central funding is a case in point.
The Centre-funded 108 ambulance service is run under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The state government, which hardly has funds to pay its employees, has taken in-principle decision to run all 240 such ambulances on its own, with Badal’s photo on it.
State Principal Secretary (Health) Vini Mahajan said, “The Union Government has agreed to our decision. If we don’t accept the national format, we will not be eligible for the Central funds for this scheme but will get Central grants for other Central-sponsored schemes. We have decided to retain the chief minister’s photo on the ambulances.”
However, the chief minister has taken a strong exception to the entire controversy. Badal demanded the removal of what he described as “illogical and utterly unrealistic conditions”, imposed by the Centre as riders on the release of Central funds for schemes, programmes and initiatives being carried out by the state governments.
With this decision, the state government will have to bear Rs 36 crore annually to run these ambulances by itself; the running cost of each ambulance is Rs 1.25 lakh per month. The Central government had warned the state government to stop the grant to run these ambulances if Badal’s photo was not removed from them.
The blue cards given to 14 lakh BPL families of the state, under the Antyodaya Yojana, already carry Badal’s picture on them.
As during its previous tenure (2007-2012), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP government will provide 1.50 lakh bicycles to schoolgirls under the state-run Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme with Badal’s photo on them.
The state government has placed an order of 1.50 lakh bicycles to three Ludhiana-based factories worth `42 crore. These bicycles will be presented to girls of Class IX to XII from November and the entire lot of bicycles will be distributed by year-end.
Earlier they had spent Rs 30 crore on bicycles given to 1.05 lakh girl students. Many girls had refused to take the bicycles with Badal’s picture on them.