The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the State government to submit status report by October 27 on the progress made in the tender process for procuring the hi-tech ambulance management and operation system in Bengaluru and other cities.
A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty issued the direction after the government submitted a tentative timeline for completing the tender process.
As per the tentative timeline, the tender is likley to be invited on August 30 after the clearance by the pre-tender scrutiny committee, and the tender process is likely to be completed by mid-November.
The government has submitted the tentative timeline as the court had earlier expressed displeasure over undue delay in implementation of new ambulance management system even though the proposal for modernising the system was started two years ago.
Meanwhile, the Bench directed the government to adhere to the timeline and adjourned further hearing till October 27 on the PIL petition filed by Bharat Punarothana Trust, Bengaluru.
The petition had pointed out the constraints for movement of ambulances particularly in Bengaluru city, and the government in August 2020 had told the court that a new system to modernise the ambulance management is in the pipeline.