Continuing his barb against PM Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today took a jibe at the Prime Minister over the supply of faulty ventilators to states under the PM Cares fund. “There’s a lot common between PM Cares ventilator and the PM himself: too much false PR, don’t do their respective jobs, nowhere in sight when needed!” Gandhi said in a tweet.

The issue pertains to concerns raised by Punjab and Maharashtra over the functioning of ventilators supplied to them by the Centre. They claimed that they were given faulty ventilators and the sets are lying unused.

The Punjab government has claimed that out of 320 ventilators it received under the PM Cares Fund, over 90 per cent are defective. It was revealed by Dr Raj Bahadur, professional adviser to the state’s Covid-19 response and procurement committee.

Maharashtra Congress leader Sachin Sawant also said that ventilators provided under the PM Cares Fund to Aurangabad Government Medical Hospital were useless as even company technicians could not repair them. The party also said it was a scam.

“We demand state-level inquiry into all ventilators provided by the centre to Maharashtra. Time and public money wasted through PM Cares Fund is unpardonable. Modi government made all corporate companies to donate in this opaque fund. It was seen that information under RTI can not be sought,” said Sachin Sawant.

However, the Centre has written to states directing them to recalibrate settings of the machines according to their geographical location, check O2 pressure, and routinely change key parts such as flow sensors and oxygen sensors. It said that the states are not taking these necessary steps to keep the ventilators functioning and dumping the devices.