Sisodia in Delhi has said that PPE kit contracts were awarded to a company linked to Sarma’s wife,” “Himanta Biswa Sarma awarded the contract to his wife’s company. He paid Rs 990 for the PPE kits while others were purchased at Rs 600 apiece from another company on the same day. This is a huge crime.”
He dared BJP leadership to take action against Sarma. The chief minister tweeted, “Stop sermonising and I will see you soon in Guwahati as you will face criminal defamation”.
Sarma in another tweet stated, “Manish Bhai, most surprising that you once claimed to be an “anti-corruption” activist. At that point of Covid wave, we in Assam did not have any single PPE kit. After hectic efforts, my wife managed to bring in a few kits to save previous lives. Although the NHM issued the order, the company raised no bill and the kits were gifted to the Govt.
Not a single penny was transacted, where is the corruption? Due to acute shortage then, every government including yours waived tender process for PPE kit and went for direct purchase. Don’t cherry-pick from half the documents. Have the courage to put all the facts. Don’t show half of a document trail, have courage to put all the facts?”
Opposition parties including the Congress, Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad have demanded a probe by the central agency into the irregularities in purchase of sanitisers and PPE kits — in 2020. Sarma was health minister at that time.
Around 50,000 PPE kits from Guangzhou in China arrived in 2020.