Red-flagged by court, firm owned by JD(U) MP's kin gets ambulance contract in Bihar

The contract, renewed for 5 years, also says in a clause that it can be further extended by 3 years.

The Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar has seemingly cast aside comments by the Patna High Court and renewed the contract for emergency ambulances across the state for a firm owned by the kin of an MP belonging to the ruling JD(U). The matter has become a grave cause of concern because the aforementioned company has been flagged for several irregularities including missing oxygen tanks, expired medicines, and also what is being termed as 'document leaks', a report in The Indian Express said.

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The contract, renewed for 5 years, also has a clause that it can be further extended by 3 years.

The contract, worth Rs 1,600 crore, was given to Pashupatinath Distributors Private Limited (PDPL) in Patna for 2,215 ambulances that would ferry critical patients, pregnant women, and infants to the nearest government hospitals free of charge. The company is owned by relatives of Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi, MP of Bihar's Jahanabad, the report said. The contract of the Dial 102 ambulances was also won back in 2017 by PDPL, but jointly, with one Samman Foundation as a consortium.

The companies won the Rs 400 crore contract for 650 ambulances, the report said.

The report also mentioned how PDPL has not run ambulance services on its own before. The directors of PDPL include the MP's two sons, his daughter-in-law, and the MP's brother in law.