PATNA, May 9 -- The Faculty Association of AIIMS, Patna (FAAP) on Thursday decided to make a representation to the Executive Director (ED) regarding the denial of conveyance allowance to faculty doctors for performing duties beyond office hours, a member of the association said. The FAAP, which held a meeting on Thursday evening, said the decision paralysis in holding back the payment of allowance for the last six months was baffling. "It must be addressed soon and an order issued, so that if our conveyance reimbursement is stopped, we can at least represent to higher authorities or even knock the doors of the judiciary," said a senior doctor. The decision follows around a hundred faculty doctors shooting emails to its executive director (ED), Dr Saurabh Varshney, during the last three days, seeking payment of conveyance allowance or to provide them official vehicle to perform duties beyond office hours, failing which a few of them expressed their reluctance to do so, said officials familiar with the matter. Dr Varshney had not responded to the emails of the faculty doctors so far. Faculty doctors are eligible up to Rs 7,150 as monthly conveyance allowance for visiting hospital outside duty hours and performing other official duties, including attending meetings and taking academic classes. Their conveyance reimbursement claims have been settled till September 2024 that was paid to them in January. Their claims have, however, been pending since. Dr Varshney cited directions by the ministry of health and family affairs (MoH&FW) to deny the faculty doctors conveyance allowance, during their interaction with the president of the institute, Dr Subrata Sinha, on Monday, said a doctor privy to the meeting. Dr Varshney, however, did not circulate any such order from the ministry among the doctors. As such, around 234 faculty doctors of AIIMS-Patna are sore with Dr Varshney for what they termed was his "arbitrary" decision to stop reimbursement of allowance. Doctors at AIIMS-Deoghar of which Dr Varshney is the ED, do not get conveyance allowance. Dr Varshney took additional charge of Patna AIIMS on November 6, 2024. "By depriving doctors of their legitimate dues, Dr Varshney is trying to earn brownie points by showing his bosses and the mandarins in the ministry that he has cut costs at AIIMS Patna," said a faculty doctor who requested anonymity. Dr Varshney is seeking re-appointment as ED-cum-chief executive officer of AIIMS. He was among the 40 candidates called for an interview to New Delhi on May 2. The MoH&FW had advertised the posts of ED in AIIMS at Patna, Raebareli, Kalyani, Bathinda, Deoghar, Bibinagar, Rajkot and Bilaspur through three separate advertisements between January 4 and February 22 this year. The conveyance allowance was admissible to doctors of the Central Health Service by an order of the health ministry that was also ratified by the Standing Finance Committee of the AIIMS Patna, its highest financial body, at its third meeting convened by the then Union health secretary Preeti Sudan in New Delhi on April 25, 2019. "It is a ministry issue, and the institute has nothing to do with it," said Dr Varshney when this reporter reached him for comments....