With Lok Sabha elections not far away, display of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's pictures on ambulances has brought the state government and the Centre at loggerheads with Union Health Ministry stopping central funds to the state under a scheme.
In its recent tranche of central funds released to Punjab under its flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme, the Health Ministry has not included the amount under a scheme for providing free referral transport system.
The action comes in a bid to prevent UPA's flagship programmes from being hijacked by states ahead of elections.
The sealing of Central funds to Punjab follows repeated complaints to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the dilution of NRHM guidelines in the state where all ambulances funded by the Centre have been pasted with photographs of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Union Minister of State for Health Santosh Chaudhary, who is an MP from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, also raised objections on the display of Badal's photos on ambulances funded by Centre.
A defiant Punjab has refused to remove pictures of its Chief Minister saying it will continue to do so as the state government is providing majority funds for them.
"We will not remove pictures of Chief Minister Badal displayed on the ambulances. If the Central government had objections to the display of his pictures, it should have raised objections earlier. Why now?," Punjab Health Minister Madan Mittal told PTI, adding that the state provides 80 per cent of funds and the Centre only 20 per cent.
The Health Ministry has been warning the state in recent interactions of stopping funds under the scheme unless it conforms to central guidelines issued for referral transport system provided under NRHM.
"We have been asking states to follow Ministry guidelines in this regard to ensure national branding of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and uniformity in the display on ambulances supported by Central funds," said Manoj Jhalani, Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry.
