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UP minister flies off the handle, 'abducts' three health officers

They had refused to recruit doctors he recommended
Last Updated 10 October 2012, 18:30 IST

Furious over a medical official’s refusal to appoint doctors recommended by him, an Uttar Pradesh minister barged into his home at midnight, abducting him and later two other staffers of the health department in Gonda.

Minister of state for revenue and rehabilitation Vinod Singh carried out the night raid in a bid to force the district chief medical officer (CMO) S P Singh to cancel a list of appointees and include the names he had recommended.

The terrified CMO managed to inform senior officials and was later escorted to the state capital, 200 kilometres away, by the additional district magistrate.

According to reports, Vinod Singh, who also hails from Gonda district, had given a few names to the CMO, recommending their appointment as doctors on contractual basis in the National Rural Health Scheme (NRHM).

Rules followed

The CMO, however, followed rules and released a list of the appointees late on Monday evening as per the recommendation of the committee which interviewed the candidates.
The minister was furious over the list. He barged into Singh’s house around midnight and forced him into his SUV.  Then he had the chief medical officer open his office and inspected the files.

He also abducted two clerks of the department and asked all three of them to prepare a new list. The clerks expressed their helplessness, saying the computer was out order.
The minister then left, asking them to wait there while he brought a new list himself.

The chief medical officer, meanwhile, informed the district magistrate and others. The senior officials intervened and escorted him all the way to safety in Lucknow.
The state health minister Ahmed Hasan has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Allegations denied

“The CMO  was terrified. Anything could have happened to him. Senior government officials have been apprised of the incident,” said a district official in Gonda.
The minister, however, denied the allegations. “It is a conspiracy by my political opponents,” he said.

Singh is not the only minister who has caused embarrassment to the government. There are many others like him. Barely a few days back, a Samajwadi Party legislator was charged with raping a woman in Auraiya district.

Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has admonishedparty leaders on many occasions but it has had no effect.

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(Published 10 October 2012, 18:30 IST)

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