Photo caption.
Work on the district hospital drags on for years, hit by resource crunch and failed deadlines. Santosh Mirajkar
GUILHERME ALMEIDA
MARGAO
The long-delayed South Goa district hospital under construction might have come in handy for former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to corner the BJP in his entire election campaign, to drive home the BJP government’s failure on the development front.
But, hold on. The dust kicked up by the election campaign has finally settled down, but the new government that comes to power after March 11 has indeed a big task at hand “ to arrange funds amounting to a whopping Rs 75 crore before setting any new deadlines to commission the hospital.
That’s not all. In the event the Congress returns to power, questions are being raised in health circles whether the new government will revive the super-specialty block attached to the district hospital, former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s brain child, but which had found no favour with the BJP government.
In fact, Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) officials maintained that while the BJP-led government could not commission the hospital project on time after failed deadlines, the new government has a task at hand to arrange the necessary funds before setting the deadlines. An official in the know said that fresh deadlines to commission the hospital project will be directly proportional to the funds made available with the GSIDC to complete the hospital.
Inquiries by The Goan has now revealed that resource crunch and the BJP-led government’s failure to make available the required funds on time is the primary reason behind the failed deadlines. An official informed that the new government will have to somehow arrange on priority Rs 5 crore, the dues the Corporation owes to the contractor over the last few months. “Unless the funds are made available to the Corporation and the contractor is cleared of all dues, the same old story of failed deadlines will come back to haunt the new government as well," warned an official.
Sources in the know said the government is yet to tender certain medical equipments required for the district hospital. “We are waiting the completion of the civil works since the specifications of the equipments should fit into the design of the building. We cannot tender the OTs before the completion of the building," the official added.
GSIDC officials are indeed keeping their fingers crossed how things will unfold vis-Ã -vis the hospital project in the event of a change in political guard. Mooted by former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, the original design was to put in place an 800-bedded hospital with absolutely no provision for a nursing institute on the top two floors. Digambar, sources said, had also insisted on the super-specialty block attached to the district hospital. However, when the BJP government assumed office in 2012, the super-specialty project was shelved and the hospital was reduced to a 500-bedded, with a provision to run a nursing institute on the top two floors. “We are indeed keeping our fingers crossed how the new government will act on the district hospital project and whether Digambar will insist on the revival of the super-specialty project. All these questions will again upset the fund projection for the project," the official warned.
