7 yrs on, PWD yet to finish construction of Bhawarna Civil Hospital building

Ravinder Sood

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Palampur, March 7

Several development projects in the Palampur area have come to standstill following financial crises which the state government is facing. The state government-funded projects are the worst hit as in the past two years hardly any funds have been released for their completion. The matter was also highlighted in these columns of The Tribune, but no progress was witnessed in this connection.

"Till date, the PWD has spent over Rs 12.25 crore on the hospital building. The department needs

Rs 3.5 crore to complete the hospital building. The total cost of the project when completed will be

Rs 24 crore. Though the PWD has written to the higher authorities for sanctioning more funds, yet no amount has been received."

Rajesh Chopra, Officiating Executive Engineer, PWD

Fifty-bed Civil Hospital in Bhawarna, which caters to medical needs of over two lakh residents of the lower areas of Palampur is one of the projects, which is under construction since 2018. The health facility at Bhawarna was constructed to reduce pressure on the Palampur Civil Hospital.

However, due to shortage of funds, the Public Works Department (PWD) left the project midway one-and-a-half-year ago. The work on the hospital building started during the BJP regime in 2018 when Sulah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar was the Health Minister. The then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur laid the foundation stone of the hospital. Since this project was state funded, appropriate budgetary provisions were made by the previous BJP government for its construction. The PWD was supposed to complete the four-storey structure within two years.

Besides the 50-bed hospital, there was a proposal to install an ultrasound scanning unit and establish a latest lab on its premises. The government has already sanctioned posts of 10 doctor here. Some of them have already joined the hospital.

When contacted, Rajesh Chopra, Officiating Executive Engineer, said till date the PWD had spent over 12.25 crore on the hospital building. “The PWD needs 3.5 crore to complete the hospital building,” he said.

“The total cost of the project when completed will be Rs 24 crore. Though the PWD has written to the higher authorities for sanctioning more funds, yet no amount has been received,” he said.

Sulah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar said, “The hospital will provide medical facilities to the local population. Patients from Bhawarna, who have serious ailments, travel 15 to 20 km to reach the Palampur Civil Hospital or the Tanda Medical College in case of an emergency. During the BJP regime, adequate funds were sanctioned for the hospital building. However, the new Congress government has put the project on hold. Despite my repeated requests to the ruling dispensation, no funds have been released in the past two years for the hospital building.”