HYDERABAD: The GVK group shot a letter to health minister D L Ravindra Reddy on Wednesday stating that the '108' emergency ambulance service is likely to come to a halt if the state government fails to release the promised funds immediately.
Stating that there was an acute shortage of funds, the letter said that so far the government released Rs 9. 35 crores for October-December quarter as against Rs 21.43 crores that was due in the beginning of October. In addition, there are past deductions resulting in total gap of funds of Rs 31.25 crores due to which outstanding vendor payments are mounting and impacting critical operation activities like employees' salaries, increments and field engagement activities.
The letter, signed by the chief executive officer Subodh Sathyawadi, further said that the prevailing situation has also affected critical fleet repair, medical consumables and the ability to hone the skills of the employees.
"All these issues have eroded our credibility with major suppliers who have now refused to repair vehicles on credit," said the company officials. Further, they said that this has negatively impacted on-road performance with delays in response time.
The officials said in the letter that they are finding it increasingly difficult to keep the operations running and unless the funds are released immediately, operations may substantially suffer. In view of the prevailing precarious position, the officials sought immediate release of the arrears and also demanded that in future, the government should release the amount without any delay. Though the severity of the situation has been brought to the government's notice, funds have not been released, the authorities maintained.
When contacted, K Krishnam Raju, director, GVK EMRI, said that the government has to release the funds as per the MoU. Otherwise, it will be difficult to run the service. "The government released Rs 5.35 crores on Nov 18 after the issue was highlighted in the media but it has to release the balance amount," said Raju. He added that an approximate 200 ambulances were off the roads due to lack of tyres, repairs and refurbishment.
The fund crunch has eroded our credibility with major suppliers who have now refused to repair vehicles on credit. This has negatively impacted on-road performance with delays in response time.
Stating that there was an acute shortage of funds, the letter said that so far the government released Rs 9. 35 crores for October-December quarter as against Rs 21.43 crores that was due in the beginning of October. In addition, there are past deductions resulting in total gap of funds of Rs 31.25 crores due to which outstanding vendor payments are mounting and impacting critical operation activities like employees' salaries, increments and field engagement activities.
The letter, signed by the chief executive officer Subodh Sathyawadi, further said that the prevailing situation has also affected critical fleet repair, medical consumables and the ability to hone the skills of the employees.
"All these issues have eroded our credibility with major suppliers who have now refused to repair vehicles on credit," said the company officials. Further, they said that this has negatively impacted on-road performance with delays in response time.
The officials said in the letter that they are finding it increasingly difficult to keep the operations running and unless the funds are released immediately, operations may substantially suffer. In view of the prevailing precarious position, the officials sought immediate release of the arrears and also demanded that in future, the government should release the amount without any delay. Though the severity of the situation has been brought to the government's notice, funds have not been released, the authorities maintained.
When contacted, K Krishnam Raju, director, GVK EMRI, said that the government has to release the funds as per the MoU. Otherwise, it will be difficult to run the service. "The government released Rs 5.35 crores on Nov 18 after the issue was highlighted in the media but it has to release the balance amount," said Raju. He added that an approximate 200 ambulances were off the roads due to lack of tyres, repairs and refurbishment.
The fund crunch has eroded our credibility with major suppliers who have now refused to repair vehicles on credit. This has negatively impacted on-road performance with delays in response time.
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