Raju

Hyderabad, May 27: Locked up in jail, B. Ramalinga Raju could still make a difference between life and death. Not any more.

The Andhra Pradesh government has found a new partner for the Emergency Management and Research Institute, a brainchild of scam-tainted Satyam Computers founder B. Ramalinga Raju, on trial for fraud.

Power and hospitality giant GVK Group will now part-fund EMRI operations.

Reviewing the functioning of the emergency service yesterday, chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy also decided to appoint a whole-time director to monitor the functioning of the service, funded 95 per cent by the government.

The service, which operates on the toll-free number 108, has now spread to 11 states, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

“Currently, it has 1,650 ambulances, including 802 in Andhra Pradesh, and has plans to increase the number to 10,000 by the end of 2010,” said former EMRI CEO Venkat Chagavalli.

EMRI has 13,000 employees. Its monthly operational expense amounts to Rs 50 lakh while another Rs 50-60 lakh goes towards footing infrastructure and wage bills.

The emergency service had gone numb since the past few days following a cash crunch and the controversy over the search for a new partner.

“Since Sunday, almost 32,000 calls were not attended to as ambulance staff did not report for work and many of the vehicles did not have fuel,” said an employee.

Chagavalli said GVK and Piramal Healthcare had been shortlisted as private partners to hold the remaining 5 per cent stake.

But Piramal Healthcare declined the offer on the ground that “due diligence showed up many grey areas”, said a representative of an independent agency it had hired.