The '108' ambulance services of Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) was a favourite topic for leaders this election with both BJP and Congress laying claim on it. While BJP says to have been instrumental behind the success of the service across the country, Congress states that it was the UPA government that sanctioned a fund of Rs 55 crore for the project.
During his visit to Ahmedabad, Arun Shourie, BJP leader and former divestment minister said, "The BJP government has done a lot of development work in Gujarat like building roads, enhancing infrastructure and introducing the 108 ambulance services."
However, when asked about BJP's claims, Shaktisinh Gohil, Congress leader in Gujarat said, "BJP's claims about introducing the '108' ambulance service are totally false. It was during the UPA government that the project had been finalised. In fact, we had also filed for an RTI application which has revealed that around Rs 55 crore had been granted by UPA government led by Congress to EMRI for the project."
EMRI's '108' ambulance service has proved a major success since its launch. Currently, there are close to 400 ambulances in Gujarat. BJP leaders say that Congress is taking the credit for this service by saying that it is funded by the central government. However, it was started by the Modi government and it is run by the state government.
While Congress contended that a reply to its application under RTI shows that around Rs 55 crore were used from Central government's funding to run the project. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has taken credit for starting this services in many of his election rallies.
It needs to be mentioned here that EMRI is the brainchild of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.