Govt takes ‘illegal’ route to build Doda teaching hospital

Tribune News Service

Doda, August 28

The Jammu and Kashmir Department of Health and Medical Education with the help of the Public Works Department is allegedly taking an illegal route to construct a 290-bedded teaching hospital of Government Medical College (GMC), Doda.

The G-plus-three building is being constructed on the Doda district hospital premises next to the medical supply store building, which has put the latter building in danger.

For the construction of the teaching hospital, the Health And Medical Education Department is facing a technical issue of dismantling three recently constructed buildings, which include the medical supply store.

Sources said so far, the authorities hadn’t given approval for dismantling the buildings as these buildings were just three years old and one of them is yet to be handed over by the J&K project construction corporation. “No officer wants to take the blame on his head of giving the approval for dismantling the buildings and get caught in any controversy,” said a source.

“Now, the authorities are thinking of adopting an illegal route to dismantle the buildings. The teaching hospital construction agency, which is the PWD, has been told to cut the land beneath the building so that the medical supply store building will collapse on its own and no official will be blamed,” the source said.

On August 22, K Vijay Kumar, Adviser to the Governor, laid the foundation stone of the teaching hospital and the Principal Secretary to the government, Health And Medical Education Department, Atal Dulloo, was present on the occasion.

The teaching hospital is part of the GMC, Doda, which was sanctioned by the UPA-II government in 2014 and was one among the five new medical colleges for the state. As per guidelines, all new five GMCs had to be constructed adjacent to the existing district hospital, but it was never mentioned whether the teaching hospital would not come up where the administrative block and classrooms were to be constructed.

For the GMC, Doda, the Jammu and Kashmir Government acquired 160 kanals of land at Ghat village, five kilometers from the district hospital with an assurance to the people that all new buildings would be constructed on the acquired land which would benefit the people.

“But the people were fooled as only the administrative block and classrooms are being constructed at Ghat, whereas, all clinical blocks will continue to remain in the existing Doda district hospital. Even the new teaching hospital is being constructed at the hospital, which was part of the new plan,” said Riyaz Ahmed, former Sarpanch of Ghat.