MARGAO
Hazard a guess on the state of the ambitious Ayush Hospital proposed atop the picturesque Monte Hill at Margao around a decade ago.
Well, the project is yet to become a reality to date as work on the ambitious project is still dragging on for the last five years. Why the project has not seen the light of day when the Union Ayush Minister Sripad Naik is from Goa is mired in mystery. Or, is it that the Union Ayush Minister had rushed with the laying of the foundation stone for the project just to score some political points ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election sans completing the laid down procedure?
For an answer, consider this. Just a few days before the election code of conduct could come into force ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Union Ayush Minister Sripad Naik had rushed to Margao to lay the foundation stone for the 50-bedded Ayush hospital at Monte Hill at an estimated cost of Rs nine crore.
The foundation stone was laid by the Union Minister in the presence of then BJP South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat apparently to beat the election code of conduct. For, while the foundation stone was laid on March 10, 2019 by the Union Minister, actual work on the ambitious project was to commence only after the Lok Sabha election.
It’s another matter that the BJP South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar could not retain the seat when he got defeated in the election by around 9700-odd votes.
The Ayush hospital, however, is yet to see the light of day. A visit to the Monte Hill adjacent to the TB Sanatorium revealed that the hospital building has just taken shape and been painted. Interior works, however, have been underway inside the building, indicating that the civil works remain incomplete. It’s not known whether the equipment and other items required to run the Ayush Hospital have been procured by the authorities.
The ground reality has thrown up a moot question: Why it has taken five long years to build a ground-plus-one building for the project when the Union Minister had announced on the day of the foundation stone laying ceremony that the hospital will start functioning within a year and a half.
“We have no idea why the Ayush Hospital project got delayed by five years. And, we have no idea when exactly the project will see the light of day,” remarked an official of the Health Services.
The Ayush Hospital was initially proposed at the Leprosy Hospital complex in Curtorim village, but the project was later shifted to Monte Hill in the TB Sanatorium complex on the land owned by the Directorate of Health Services.
