Chandigarh, July 8 -- On the occasion of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research's (PGIMER) 62nd Foundation Day, the institute's director, Dr Vivek Lal, publicly addressed the long-silent issue of the Rs.1.14 crore scam in the Private Grant Cell, stating that all those found involved in misappropriation of funds have been removed from their posts. "Those involved in the scam will face strict punishment and CBI action," Dr Lal said. This marks the first time that the administration has directly spoken on the matter since it came to light. Between 2017 and 2021, funds meant for the treatment of 103 poor patients were fraudulently siphoned off to third parties and pharma companies. These funds - totalling Rs.1,14,72,026 - were allocated under central and state government health schemes including the Prime Minister's Office and Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi. Shockingly, the money was disbursed even in the name of deceased patients, using forged documents and manipulated bills. The Private Grant Cell deals with verification, requisition and documentation of funds that are received for patients under various schemes, and has a total of eight workers. Five individuals were named in the internal committee report, submitted to the PGI last year, including one permanent employee (now retired), three contractual workers, and one deputed staff member. Speaking to the media, Dr Lal said, "All workers found involved in misappropriation of funds have been removed. The corrupt activities took place between 2017 to 2021, and it was caught during our tenure in 2022. We immediately reported it to the CBI, which is now investigating the case." "Measures such as online indenting have been introduced to prevent such irregularities in the future." According to Dr Lal, three contractual workers-Sunil Kumar, Pardeep Singh and Chetan Gupta-have been terminated, and the deputed employee, Gaganpreet, has been sent back to his parent cadre in Punjab. The permanent employee, Dharam Chand, who worked as junior administrative assistant, retired in 2020. The scam came into the public eye after an RTI filed by Ashwani Kumar Munjal, chairman of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of PGI Contractual Workers Union, made the internal probe report by prof Arun Kumar Aggarwal public. The Aggarwal committee, constituted in February 2023 looked into the misappropriation of funds at the Private Grant Cell and its report to PGIMER management in May 2024. Munjal has raised concerns about the committee's neutrality, especially over the appointment of Private Grant Cell head Ranjit Singh Bhogal as its convener. He also questioned why no senior official has been held accountable and why no FIRs have been registered over missing patient records....