Even though the tussle between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party-run Punjab government over the rebranding of health and wellness clinics (HWCs) is over, the Union government has decided not to release ₹450 crore National Health Mission (NHM) funds for the year 2023-24.
The row started when the AAP government in Punjab rebranded HWCs in the state as Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) in 2023. The Centre, in turn, froze the NHM funds. The Centre stopped making payments to the state from December 2023 and started repaying the NHM funds only in November 2024 when the state government decided to remove its branding from the clinics.
According to the Centre, Punjab did not adhere to the branding guidelines for Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre, now known as Ayushman Arogya Mandir, violating guidelines.
After the Punjab government took a U-turn from its earlier stand and agreed to remove the picture of chief minister Bhagwant Mann from over 600 clinics, the centre has released the funds for the year 2024-25.
Officials privy to the development, pleading anonymity, said that because of the earlier “adamant” stand of the state government, the Centre has now declined to release the pending payment of one year.
{{/usCountry}}Officials privy to the development, pleading anonymity, said that because of the earlier “adamant” stand of the state government, the Centre has now declined to release the pending payment of one year.
{{/usCountry}}“We had requested the Centre to release this amount, but they have frozen the money for the year 2023-24 because the state was adamant not to change the name of these clinics and remove photos of the CM Bhagwant Mann. Centre has conveyed to us categorically that this amount will not be released despite our repeated requests,” A senior health department official said, pleading anonymity.
“Their (Centre’s) claim is that since the state was not ready to stick to the Union government’s guidelines about spending of NHM funds, the state won’t get the share,” the official added.
Since the Punjab government’s U-turn, the central government has released the instalments of NHM funds. According to senior government functionaries of the department, after the dispute was over, the Centre has made all payments till now and has even paid ₹80 crore, which was due in the form of arrears.