KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Twelve years on, the sub District Trauma hospital Pattan on which a whooping sum of Rs 60 crore have been spent so far is yet to get operational. The Health Department has failed to clear the liabilities of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical contractors as a result they have stopped their work.
While paying visit to the hospital in June last year, late Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had said the hospital would be made operational on the 16th August 2015. However, despite CM’s announcement there is no sign of making the hospital functional.
As per records, nearly Rs sixty Crores have been spent on the hospital. A delegation of senior citizens of Pattan town from North Kashmir’s Baramulla district told CNS that late Chief Minister had announced that Rs 6 Crores have been released to clear the liabilities of the contractors and yet Health Department didn’t clear those liabilities. According to these people, there is political gimmick going on which explains why the hospital has not been made functional.
In terms of infrastructure, the building of the hospital is complete but the non-clearance of the liabilities has forced contractors to stop work on the hospital and it has not been made operational.
“The hospital can cater a lot of emergency cases as it is a first sub district trauma hospital in Pattan area. As lot of accidents take place on the Baramulla highway, this hospital can save many lives. What happens most of the time is that if any accident takes place, the death seems inevitable because the patient has to be rushed to Srinagar hospitals for treatment which takes a lot of time and during the process the patient dies, “said Muhammad Yousuf, a resident of Pattan. The Government claims that the hospital will soon be made functional.
Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Samir Matoo told CNS, “we are going to make this hospital functional as soon as possible. I know a lot of time has been consumed but things take time. When asked about the Chief Minister’s announcement that hospital would be made functional on 16th August 2015 and already so much time has elapsed since then, the Director said, “the building is complete but furniture is not there. We will make this functional very soon.”
Locals, however, questioned this narrative and set of reasons. “If they have spent Rs sixty Crores for the hospital why aren’t they spending few lakhs on furniture? They are just making excuses. The building is 99 percent complete and more importantly the PWD Baramulla has locked the building better known to these government agencies,” said Arshid Ahmed, a teacher by profession from Pattan.
The PWD department had taken on the construction of the building since its inception but due to lack of funds the construction has been stopped. “The building is nearly 99 percent complete but due to lack of funds we have stopped the construction. As soon the funds will be released the construction will be automatically started. But now it is not going on. With respect to functioning of the hospital he said I cannot say it properly but as soon as funds will be released, the hospital will be made operational.”
