Lucknow, Aug. 14: Documents The Telegraph has seen contradict the Yogi Adityanath government's claim that it became aware only on August 4 about the dues owed to the gas vendor to the Gorakhpur hospital where 30 children died on Thursday and Friday after supplies were stopped.
The government has blamed the delayed payment on Rajiv Mishra, principal of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, and suspended him before accepting his resignation.
Here's what the records of the state's medical education department say (represented in the form of a calendar):
March 22: Mishra writes to the director-general of the medical & health department, which functions under health and family welfare minister Siddharth Nath Singh, to clear the vendor's dues.
He has attached a copy of a payment reminder he has received from the vendor, Pushpa Sales Pvt Ltd, the same day. Mishra forwards copies of his letter to medical education minister Ashutosh Tandon and Siddharth Nath.
Result: Nothing.
April 3: Mishra sends a similar letter to the additional chief secretary of the medical education department, with copies to the directors-general of the medical & health and medical education departments. He attaches the latest reminder from the vendor, received the same day.
Result: Nothing.
April 17: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder, received the same day.
Result: Nothing.
April 24: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
May 2: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
May 6: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
May 29: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
June 28: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
July 6: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
July 18: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, with copies to the directors-general, attaching the latest reminder.
Result: Nothing.
(At least five of the reminders from Pushpa Sales that Mishra has attached to his letters threaten stoppage of oxygen supply.)
Aug. 1: Mishra writes again to the additional chief secretary, attaching the latest reminder, signed by Pushpa Sales executive Dipankar Sharma, which says the dues have grown to Rs 63.65 lakh and must be paid immediately to ensure "uninterrupted supply" of oxygen. A copy is marked to minister Tandon.
Aug. 4: Tandon receives a letter sent by Mishra and learns - for the first time, according to the minister - about the dues and the threat.
Aug. 5: Tandon orders Rs 2 crore transferred to the Gorakhpur treasury towards the payment of the dues, according to the minister. Money reaches the treasury the same day, according to the government.
Aug. 7: Money arrives in treasury, according to Mishra.
Aug. 8: Mishra sends college accountant to treasury to get a token clearing the payment.
Aug. 9: The vendor writes directly to Tandon, sources in Pushpa Sales say.
The letter from company director Maneesh Bhandari says the six-month dues have risen to Rs 68.65 lakh despite the principal being informed "many times through letters, orally, telephone, email and a legal notice".
"We personally handed this letter to the minister on August 9 morning. He and (chief minister Yogi) Adityanath went to the medical college the same afternoon to hold a review meeting," an executive of Pushpa Sales said.
"We came to know from hospital authorities that they had told the chief minister about the problem and he had looked questioningly at Tandon. After that, Adityanath apparently stayed silent."
Vendor still unpaid. No work possible because the chief minister was at the medical college and "we were busy with him", Mishra says. Doesn't explain why a Net-banking transaction that should have taken the accountant just a few minutes was not done.
• Vendor stops supply in the evening after Adityanath leaves.
Aug. 10: After 23 babies die,Adityanath tells reporters he hadn't known about the delayed payment or oxygen crisis at the hospital, located in the parliamentary constituency he has represented continuously since 1998.
Vendor still unpaid. Mishra doesn't explain why.
On August 14, Mishra does not take calls from this newspaper, which wanted his reaction to reports that he had been away in Rishikesh on August 10.
Aug. 11: A sum of Rs 52 lakh is finally transferred to the company's account through RTGS. Vendor begins steps to resume supply.
Aug. 12: Siddharth Nath announces suspension of Mishra, accusing him of delaying the payment. But even before a probe starts, the government insists that lack of oxygen didn't cause the deaths. Late at night, government accepts Mishra's resignation.
Aug. 14: Siddharth Nath tells reporters in Allahabad that the oxygen supply was disrupted because "some people wanted kickbacks". He does not say who they are.
(A health department source had told this newspaper on August 12 that the medical college's account had a balance of Rs 3.86 crore on August 9, and that the vendor had gone unpaid because he had "failed to oblige some senior members in the government".
("No such business operates without kickbacks," the source said. "But the principal had recently received orders from Lucknow to stop the payment.")
• Adityanath, who used to call Gorakhpur bandhs against "misrule" by the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, faces a shutdown against him in his hometown for the first time in his political career.
Most Opposition parties participate in the protest. So do the Hindu Samaj Party and Nagrik Manch, two social welfare organisations once closely associated with Adityanath.
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