Maharashtra: Three govt contract employees sacked for taking bribe

The Maharashtra government has terminated the services of three employees hired on contract for the implementation of a health scheme in Jalna district, for allegedly taking Rs four lakh bribe from a private hospital, a senior official said on Friday. The three accused, identified as Gururaj Thattekar, district coordinator of MJPJAY, staffers Amit Darak and Swapnil Apre, were sacked as per the orders issued on Thursday, the district official said.

They had been hired for the implementation of the government-run Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) in Jalna district, he said. MJPJAY's state chief executive officer Dr Sudhakar Shinde directed the authorities to remove them from service.

"The action against them was taken after a video went viral on social media, in which a doctor of the private hospital was heard saying that he had given Rs 4 lakh to the trio last year for running the health scheme at his facility, but nothing happened despite that," the official said.

Meanwhile, Marathwada region secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Anil Dhavale alleged that there were several irregularities in the implementation of the MJPJAY scheme and the officers were taking bribes from private hospitals to run it.