We will cooperate with the state's investigation. The samples were collected and data was generated by two private labs that we had an MoU with we were simply mediators, "she said. On Wednesday, TOI also found that the company's proposal of interest to conduct testing during Kumbh was initially rejected by the Haridwar health department Haridwar, Dr S.K Jha, said t he agency had approached them to get empanelled as a Covid-testing agency. "They were not given permission as they did not have approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research, "he said. The firm managed to get an approval from the mela administration to conduct Covid tests. The mela administration was created during Kumbh to take all decisions pertaining to the festival. Mela health officer Dr Arjun Singh Sengar said the agency was given the green light as it had an MoU with two private labs, both of which were ICMR-approved laboratories. But an official who is part of the Uttarakhand health department investigation said. How can a company get the contract based on a simple 'expression of interest? Was there a tender to award the contracts? Who vetted company? They had not track record of working with the state government. Nine private agencies and the state government had conducted 4 lakh tests during the festival period in Haridwar after the Uttarakhand high court had directed state to conduct 50,000 daily tests in Kumbh. The agency under scanner had been tasked with conducting tests in key mela areas. A total of 2.7 lakh antigen tests and 44,278 RT PCR tests were conducted in the mela area, of which one lakh have now turned out to be fake. The agency was paid Rs 350 per antigen test. According to the mela health department, bills of 4,000 tests conducted by the firm have been cleared so far.
