Covid centres irregularities: Oxygen supplied to BMC at highly inflated rates, says ED

Jumbo covid centres irregularities HT Image Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into the alleged irregularities in jumbo Covid centres run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has revealed that a contractor had supplied oxygen to the civic body at an inflated rate of 50% to 60% than the actual price. The two oxygen-supply contracts under the ED scanner were worth ₹140 crore, sources said, adding, “In the two contracts related to oxygen supply to Covid centres and other treatment facilities, worth ₹140 crore, it is being verified if the vendor had spent only around 40% of the total costs while the rest, between 50% to 60%, was kept as profit.” The contractor had allegedly procured the oxygen from another Delhi-based supplier and the agency is examining the vendor’s claims of non-involvement in any wrongdoing in the contracts, sources added. “Irregularities, including instances of inflated contracts, have been noticed during questioning of several vendors and examination of supply-expenditure records in the probe so far related to the total expenditure on pandemic-related contracts,” sources added. The ED case began with an FIR registered in August 2022 against the partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services, which bagged a ₹38-crore bid to set up two jumbo Covid centres at Dahisar and Worli.