Government starts process to change PIMS-Jalandhar management

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, July 13

As the management of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar, has failed to deposit Rs 63 crore, the government has started the process to terminate the concessionaire agreement with it.

The Principal Secretary, Medical Education and Research, Hussan Lal, confirmed the development. He said they had got the approval from the Chief Minister that if the college management failed to deposit Rs 63 crore, the agreement with the existing management should be cancelled.

He said they would soon serve a notice on the management and if it failed to deposit the money even then, its bank guarantee of Rs 25 crore, which is lying with the government, would be encashed and the management would be changed.

Last month, while chairing the 37th governing body meeting of the PIMS society, the CM had termed the financial crunch in the institute as a serious concern. He had ordered a probe into the alleged embezzlement of taxpayers’ money along with other lapses that led to the financial crisis in the premier healthcare institute of the Doaba region.

TheDepartment of Medical Education and Research has found that the PIMS management was supposed to pay Rs 63 crore as a fee to the government. It was found that the college management had not paid the annual fee as per the terms and conditions of the agreement since 2016.

Failed to deposit Rs 63 cr

• Last month, the CM had ordered a probe into the alleged embezzlement of taxpayers’ money along with other lapses that had led to the financial crisis in the institute
• It was found out that the PIMS management was supposed to pay Rs 63 crore to the government as part of a concessionaire agreement