Central Unani team grills state registrar

Patna: A central team on Thursday interrogated the registrar of State Council of Ayurvedic and Unani Medicines, Gautam Prasad, in connection with alleged anomalies in the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) elections.

A two-member team led by under secretary of Ayush ministry, Banmali Naik, interrogated Prasad in his office and also took written statement from him on Thursday.

Naik confirmed about interrogating and taking written statement from Prasad in connection to the alleged anomalies in the CCIM elections. He, however, did not divulge any further details on his two-day probe which ended on Thursday.

“For now, I can only tell you that there were claims of bogus voters appearing in the CCIM elections to elect four representatives from Bihar. There were some other allegations also for which the probe was conducted, which I cannot tell you though,” he told The Telegraph over phone.

The state chapter of Ayush Medical Association had earlier claimed about bogus voters’ participation in the CCIM polls for electing four representatives from Bihar.

The Ayush Medical Association’s Bihar chapter had raised questions over the voters’ list, alleging 60 to 70 per cent of the voters did not exist. The list had been issued by the State Council of Ayush and Unani Medicine.

The CCIM runs under the Union ministry of Ayush, which happens to be the regulatory body of Ayush institutions across the country. CCIM runs on the lines of Medical Council of India (MCI). While the MCI regulates the MBBS education, the CCIM regulates the Ayush medical institutions.

Registrar Gautam Prasad, too, refused to tell what was asked to him by the central probe committee on this matter.

“I don’t remember the things which were asked to me because of my age,” he said.

Most of the voters are only on paper and that is clear from the fact that they share the same residential address.

“Around 1,500 proposed voters had showed the same residential proof, including ones with the address of Patna’s Barnawal House, Ayurveda Bhavan, Prince Pharmacy and Jiva Rasayan Pharmacy,” said the Bihar chapter president of Ayush Medical Association Madhurendra Pandey.

“The name of late principal of Government Ayurvedic College, Patna, Harinarayan Chaturvedi, also figured on the list. He died in 1984. As the Central Council of Indian Medicine regulates teaching in Ayush colleges, such an anomaly in its election must be stopped,” said Pandey.

Courtesy: The Telegraph