NE NEWS SERVICE
AMARAVATI, FEB 22
Stringent action would be taken against the three directors of Insurance Medical Services and all others allegedly involved in the huge amount ESI scandal said, Minister for Labour, Employment, Training and Factories, Gummanuru Jayaram here on Friday.
Speaking to the media, he said TDP ministers K Atcham Naidu and Pithani Satyanarayana who had brought pressure on the officials to perpetrate the scam would also not be let off.
The Vigilance and Enforcement Department has found the involvement of three directors of the Insurance Medical Services who had purchased medicines, equipment, surgical items and lab kits over the past five years in violation of the rules for the ESI which led to a loss of huge amount to the exchequer. The minister said poor people had suffered a lot due in scam. It is a shame on former ministers who were trying to dodge the charges by using the BC card.
K Atcham Naidu gave a recommendation to a telemedicine company that has siphoning of Rs 75 lakh per month. He said that the companies that were involved in the scam in Telangana had followed the same pattern in Andhra Pradesh as well.
The minister said that the former ministers involved in the scam would not be let off and that he has ordered an inquiry into the scandal.
Meanwhile, YSRTUC state president Punnur Gautam Reddy sought the immediate arrest of Atcham Naidu for looting the hard-earned money of the poor workers through the ESI scam. He said Atcham Naidu has himself accepted that the scam had taken place even in Andhra Pradesh. He said all the facts in the scam would be revealed with the arrest of Naidu.
