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Dhubri, June 24: Additional deputy commissioner of the district Sajjad Zaman Hazarika, under orders from deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita, has directed an NGO, Lower Assam Minorities Development Council, to return the ambulance purchased from the MLA area development fund within seven days.
An official source said an ambulance was purchased from the MLA fund of former legislator Rasul Haque Bahadur in 2007 and handed over to the NGO for emergency services to under-privileged and poor patients.
But after allegations by people that the ambulance was not serving its purpose, Hazarika directed the secretary of the NGO to return the ambulance to the Dhubri health department within seven days.
The letter (no. DDZ/2/2007-08PT/DBB/58 dated June 16) signed and issued from the deputy commissioner's office was sent to the NGO on June 19, the source said.
The ambulance, a modified Tata Sumo, was purchased for Rs 5,71,120, which was released by the Dhubri district planning and development branch, he said.
Hazarika who also looks after the district planning and development department, said, any asset created by any legislator or MP is government property and, hence, it cannot be handed over to an NGO.
The former MLA could only choose and suggest the schemes and it is the planning and development department, which implements them. “In this case, the ambulance is the property of the government and so we have asked the NGO to return it within seven days,” Hazarika said.
The additional deputy commissioner said the district health department could attach the ambulance with any block or primary health centre, where poor patients would be more benefited.
There were several allegations received by the district administration that the ambulance was being engaged for other work, an official source said. The NGO officials were not available for comment.
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