Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Wednesday flatly denied claims of malpractice by a firm she owns in the supply of PPE kits during the Covid-19 outbreak, calling the allegations “unfounded.”
She was responding to a news report published by The Wire, in collaboration with Guwahati-based website The Cross Current, alleging that during the Covid-19 pandemic, emergency medical supply orders were given to four firms, three of which were linked to Bhuyan, and the Assam CM family’s business associates, based on RTI responses.
According to the report, Bhuyan’s JCB Industries received an order for 5,000 PPE kits. Despite having no prior experience sourcing medical goods, the company was handed the order by the National Health Mission-Assam without going through the tendering procedure, according to the article. At the time, CM Sarma was the state’s health minister.
“A website titled The Wire has come out with a baseless accusation involving my provision of PPE kits to the NHM,” Bhuyan stated in an official statement on Twitter.
“Not a single PPE gear was available in Assam in the first week of the Covid-19 epidemic in March 2020,” she claimed. She became aware of it and contacted a business acquaintance, who sent roughly 1,500 PPE kits to NHM-Assam “with a great deal of work.”
“As part of my business social duty, I wrote to NHM to treat them the same.” I did not deplete this fund in any way. “Regardless of my husband’s political stance, I have always been open about my views in giving back to society,” she said in her statement.
