Ramadoss dismisses health official, Meghalaya wants him

Dismissing this, Nongrum said ‘‘vested interests’’ were behind the decision. He alleged there were

persons who wanted to make kickbacks on the procurement of highly expensive equipment. He also said Ahmed was removed when NEIGRIHMS had no replacement for him and that an interview fixed for December 29 to appoint his successor was cancelled at the last moment.

An interim arrangement has presently been made with NEIGRIHMS’ senior-most doctor, Robin Sharma, as caretaker director.

What has drawn Ramadoss’ ire is NEIGRIHMS’ granting tenders worth Rs 54 crore to a single company. In New Delhi, Ramadoss said he was surprised that the deal was allowed to go through; nowhere in the country was such a practice followed, he said. Terming the entire process ‘‘unacceptable’’ to the Union government, he also expressed his displeasure over the state minister’s allegations of foul play.

Union Health Secretary Prasanta Kumar Hota has also told reporters that ‘‘the former director and Meghalaya’s Health Minister could have landed themselves in trouble for clearing such a questionable deal’’. Hota has also reportedly said that Ahmed packed the expert committee, which was to give the company final approval, with handpicked people.

Nongrum, meanwhile, has taken his complaint to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC spokesman Jairam Ramesh, asking them to intervene and reinstate Ahmed.