RIMS fund misuse under scanner
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 14 2013 : A strong suspicion has been raised that Rs 87,40,000 has been swin-dled in the process of purcha- sing 38 dental chairs for RIMS' dental college.

Apart from this suspicion, there are also suspi-cions about RIMS authority indulging in rampant corrup-tion, fraudulence and anoma- lies in the process of procuring materials.

A well placed source informed that a central agency is investigation into the allegation about misappropriation of a huge amount of money in the process of purchasing 38 chairs for the dental college.

The dental chairs were supplied by M/S Mukherjee Enterprise of 167/1/A, Gopal Lal Thakur Road, Kolkata at the rate of Rs 3,75,000 (excluding VAT) per piece.

But it turned out that the actual price of a dental chair exclusive of VAT is Rs 1,45,000 .

The dental chairs supplied by M/S Mukherjee Enterprise with due consent of the RIMS authority were of the model Inova Pad Plus manufactured by Brazil based Unicon Denmart company.

The real price of this mo-del of dental chair is Rs 1,45,000 and this was learnt from rate quotations given by other companies.

This means RIMS paid Rs 2,30,000 more for each dental chair.

RIMS Director Shekharjit, dental college Principal in-charge RR Singh and Assis- tant Professor of the dental college Dr Bisnupati would have big roles in the shady deal, said the source.

Supply order for the 38 dental chairs were issued by the RIMS Director in March this year in two phases.

The first order was issued on March 18 and the amount it sanctioned was Rs 90 lakh.

The second order issued on March 25 was for Rs 52.50 lakh.

However, the RIMS Director is not authorised to sanction more than Re one crore in a month for procurement of materials.

It is against this rule that the Director sanctioned Rs 142,50,000 in a single month.

The orders issued on March 18 and March 25 also sanctioned another Rs 10,88,000 for purchasing accessories for the 38 dental chairs.

Unicon Denmart company which manufactures Inova Pad Plus model of dental chairs has its head-office in India at Delhi.

It lacks any rationale that M/S Mukherjee Enterprise which is not a stockist of the company was given the supply order instead of giving it to the company's stockist based in the same city.

The whole deal manifests a hidden interest.

RIMS dental college Principal in-charge RR Singh had a major role in selecting M/S Mukherjee Enterprise for supplying the dental chairs.

Ass- istant Professor Dr Bisnupati also took a major role in the form of a middle man, disclosed the source.

In their process of investigation, the central team has already collected rate quotation from the Guwahati based North East Dental Depot, added the source.

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