Nitin Gadkari wrote to Eknath Shinde to ask for the transfer of State Health Education Minister
Mumbai:
A letter written by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde seeks to transfer the state’s Health Education Minister, Dr Ashwini Joshi, who allegedly disrupted the smooth functioning of the department. medical education, has raised the question of conflicts of interest.
In a letter to CM Shinde and Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava on 9 March, Gadkari also criticized Joshi, an IAS officer, for allegedly delaying the receipt of nearly 1,100 seats related to courses offered by the IAS. Offered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS).
An organization official said his wife, Kanchan Gadkari, is on the advisory board of the recently formed CPS Association of Institutes and is a member of about 100 universities offering courses. learn CPS.
Earlier, Joshi had written to the Center highlighting “serious shortcomings” in the institutes that hold CPS courses.
Mumbai-based CPS is an autonomous agency and runs 2-year medical courses and 3-year fellowships across the state.
“Kanchan Gadkari is an adviser to the association. Simply the wife of an unqualified politician. She has several positions in her public life,” said Dr. Bakul Parekh, owner. the association’s president said, stressing that they primarily seek her advice. on administrative matters.
“She has extensive expertise in that area,” he added.
Although Gadkari attached the association’s letter with his March 9 notice emphasizing why CPS courses needed to begin immediately, Parekh stated that the association did not reach out directly. continue with him. He said the CPS management may have approached the minister.
“Union Minister Gadkari is a prominent personality and is known to be a positive person. That could be the reason,” he said. According to Parekh, the association was established nine months ago and its members wanted some solution.
Enrollment of nearly 1,100 CPS seats has not taken place as the medical education department has not yet begun consulting following Joshi’s observations.
Joshi has asserted through her letters that until she has received a satisfactory response from CPS explaining the alleged omissions, there is likely to be a status quo. She also issued a notice of cause to CPS on March 14 and asked them to submit a response by March 21.
With the issue seemingly political, few officials are willing to talk about it openly.
State Health Education Minister Girish Mahajan, who is believed to be supporting Joshi’s actions against CPS, and Gadkari could not be reached for comment. Dr. Parekh said not all CPS schools are bad and the solution does not lie in shutting down a 110-year-old institution.
However, sources said, some members of the medical fraternity have called for CPS to operate more transparently.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
