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‘Unfounded accusations’: Assam CM’s wife refutes reports of PPE kits scam
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma was responding to a news report published by a web portal that alleged based on RTI replies that emergency medical supply orders during the Covid-19 pandemic were given to four firms, of which three were linked to her
GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma on Wednesday outrightly refuted allegations of malpractice by a firm owned by her in the supply of PPE kits during the Covid-19 pandemic, calling the accusations “unfounded”.
She was responding to a news report published by The Wire, which in collaboration with Guwahati-based website The Cross Current, that alleged based on RTI replies that emergency medical supply orders during the Covid-19 pandemic were given to four firms, of which three were linked to Bhuyan, and the Assam CM family’s business associates.
The report claimed that an order of 5,000 PPE kits was placed with JCB Industries, owned by Bhuyan. Despite no history of procuring medical supplies, the company was given the order by National Health Mission-Assam without following tendering process, the report claimed said. CM Sarma was the state health minister at that time.
“A website called The Wire has come out with an unfounded accusation with regard to my supply of PPE kits to the NHM,” Bhuyan said in an official statement posted on Twitter.
She said that in the first week of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, “not a single PPE kit was available in Assam”. Taking cognisance of it, she reached out to a business acquaintance and delivered around 1,500 PPE kits to NHM-Assam “with a lot of effort”.
“I wrote to NHM to treat the same as part of my corporate social responsibility. I did not take a single penny out of this supply. I have always been transparent in my belief of giving back to the society, irrespective of my husband’s political standing,” her statement read.
To back her claims, she also attached a letter of appreciation issued to JCB Industries by NHM-Assam mission director S Lakshmanan on 27 March 2020, in which he extended his “heartfelt gratitude” for the supply of 1,485 PPE kits.
“My organisation has also supported the NHM in the fight against Covid-19 by donating to the Aarogya Nidhi... I will always stay firm in my belief to serve the country,” she wrote.
