Petro ministry programme at hospitals runs into trouble
Lucknow   28-Aug-2010

Five months after the state government did not allow Congress president Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate a bridge in her constituency Rae Bareli, the launch of a "Common LPG Kitchen" scheme of the Union Petroleum Ministry in two city hospitals has run into controversy.

The hospitals have asked for a cancellation of the programme since they did not have advance information and the scheme did not match the stature of Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada.

On August 26, officials of IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd had informed the administrations of two government hospitals - Avantibai Hospital and Balrampur Hospital - about the launch of the scheme by Jitin Prasada. The programme had been slotted for August 29. But both hospitals asked for a cancellation since there is no approval from the government.

The "Common LPG Kitchen" scheme - popularly called "sanjha chulah" - was initiated by the Petroleum Ministry a few months ago to promote the use of LPG and reduce use of wood and kerosene at common kitchens.

As part of the scheme, it was decided that subsidised LPG, along with five single burners, will be provided to the attendants of patients staying at the rainbaseras at these hospitals. They were to be allowed to use the burners for cooking and heating food, paying Rs 3 for 15 minutes, Rs 5 for 30 minutes, Rs 8 for 45 minutes and Rs 10 for 1 hour.

After receiving the letter from the oil companies, Chief Medical Officer of Avantibai Hospital wrote to Naresh Gera, senior regional manager of Indian Oil Corporation. He said the state government's permission is necessary to hold the programme, but there was hardly any time. So "it has been advised that no such programme is organised by the oil company in the premises on the said date," the letter said.

Shobh Nath, the Director of Balrampur Hospital, wrote to Shailesh Srivastava, territory manager of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, saying the scheme was not big enough to be inaugurated by the Union minister.

"I have refused any such programme in my hospital for various reasons," said Nath. "First of all, at least 15 days should have been given to us. Anyone cannot just barge into my hospital to organise a programme and invite us. Moreover, the scheme is commercial."

Virendra Madan, spokesperson of the UP Congress, said the oil companies had informed the hospitals in advance, although the written communication was sent on August 26. "The minister wanted to launch the scheme and interact with the attendants of patients living in rainbaseras. The hospitals have denied permission, but the minister will be in the state capital on Sunday," he said.

In a telephonic conversation from Delhi, Jitin Prasada said: "I am hopeful that good sense will prevail on the state government and they will allow me to launch this initiative, which the ministry plans to extend to all districts of Uttar Pradesh. I have seen relatives of the patients suffer, struggling with their stoves to cook inside rainbaseras. We thought of this initiative as a corporate social responsibility of public sector units. I am not going to hold any rally there and there is no politics involved. I will be there in Lucknow on Sunday and hope the state government would understand this and I will be given permission."