Manish Tewari demands probe in 'profiteering' in procurement of COVID-19 rapid test kits

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Monday demanded that the Centre order an investigation into the alleged profiteering in the procurement of coronavirus rapid test kits.

Congress leader Msh Tewari on Monday demanded that the Centre order an investigation into the alleged profiteering in the procurement of coronavirus rapid test kits.

In a video conference on social media, Tewari claimed that a company was given a contract at the behest of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to buy the testing kits from China. "The price of 1 testing kit was Rs 245, thus 5 lakh kits amounts to Rs 12.25 crore. However, the firm sold the kits to another company at Rs 21 crore and the ICMR procured these kits at Rs 30 crore, which is a profit margin of more than 100 per cent," he said.

Tewari said the kits costing Rs 245 each are being sold at Rs 600 per piece in this pandemic situation when the country's economy has been hit hard.

"The question is, what is happening? There is a need to stop this black marketing and profiteering.How many more kits could be procured for Rs 18 crore? We want to demand from the government that it should be investigated and this profiteering should be stopped," Tewari said.

He appealed to the government to provide information regarding "what has been imported in the last one month and how many items have been purchased and sold to government".

Delhi High Court had on Sunday directed that COVID-19 related tests should be made available to the general public at the lowest cost possible as the country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order.

"The country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order. People have been cloistered in their homes or constrained to stay wherever they were on March 24. A profit mark-up of Rs 155 that is 61 percent on the landed cost price of Rs 245 is much on the higher side and in any case more than sufficient for the seller," Justice Najmi Waziri said.

( With inputs from ANI )