KOLLAM: The ESI corporation employees have alleged corruption to the tune of crores of rupees at the new ESI medical college at Parippally which is already facing a controversy over its takeover by the state government. The employees say that several modern equipment that were purchased for the hospital have been unused and have crossed their warranty period. According to them, the row on the takeover of the hospital was a drama staged by various political parties to cover up the corruption.
They have warned of an indefinite relay hunger strike demanding the restoration of facilities to the ESI beneficiaries. “Nearly Rs 500 crore, which is from the contribution of these employees, has been spent for setting up a medical college at Parippally. The project has now gone haywire with the acquisition by the state government. The political parties fought each other claiming credit for the college which has adversely affected over 40,000 employees who are ESI beneficiaries,” alleged all-India ESI corporation employees association president A. Rahimkutty.
The equipment purchased for the hospital were dumped even without opening their packages, he said and demanded an inquiry into the corruption. The state government took over the land with the ESI corporation on a lease agreement of 99 years. This was followed by the ESI beneficiaries staging protests after acknowledging that they will lose their benefits if the ESI corporation has no authority over the hospital. The protest ended after they were allegedly given “false promises” to retain the hospital with the ESI.
The authorities were not ready to agree to the demand by the beneficiaries to retain at least a hospital having 100 beds with the ESI corporation. The employees have demanded to follow the Coimbatore model of ESI medical college where a hospital is partly retained by the ESI corporation while the college is with the state government. The medical college still remains a non-starter even a year after the takeover by the state government as the Lodha committee rejected the government’s plea to start admissions this academic year.
