MARGAO
It’s been over a month since the new government headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is in place, but the new dispensation is yet to set a new deadline for the commissioning of the long-delayed South Goa
district hospital.
And, hazard a guess why the new government has still not set a new deadline for the completion of the hospital project. Strange it may seem, but true that a fresh deadline could not be set as yet, for the simple reason that no review meeting of the South Goa district hospital has taken place till date, raising questions whether or not the district hospital is on the priority list of the
Parrikar-led government.
When The Goan called up Salcete’s lone minister, Vijai Sardesai to shed light on the commissioning of the South district hospital, he informed that he is waiting for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to announce the health portfolio to his cabinet minister so that he can invite the new health minister to inspect the district hospital
under construction.
A fortnight ago, Sardesai had said that he would not only like to invite the new health minister to the district hospital for an inspection, but also extract a promise from the new health minister to provide jobs generated in the hospital project to the unemployed youth from his Fatorda constituency.
“Let the Chief Minister announce the health portfolio and I will then get the new minister for a joint inspection of the hospital project. It’s only after the new minister inspects the hospital building that a new date will be set to commission the project,” Sardesai told The Goan, while reminding that the government has made budgetary provision for the early commission of the
hospital project.
Inquiries by The Goan with the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) have revealed that no review meeting has been held by the new government in respect of the South Goa district hospital till date.
“Unless the government first holds a review meeting, the agency cannot set any deadline for the commissioning of the district hospital,” remarked a senior
GSIDC official.
Incidentally, the previous Laxmikant Parsekar government had set December 2016 as the tentative deadline to commission the district hospital project, but civil work on the project still
remains incomplete.
Sources in the know pointed out that before the new dispensation came to power a month ago, the GSIDC was in need of Rs 70 crore not only to clear dues of the contractor, but to also complete the pending works.
The South Goa district hospital under construction has been a major issue in the February 4 Assembly election, with the opposition Congress cornering the BJP over the inordinate delay in commissioning the hospital project. Though work on the hospital had commenced during the Digambar Kamat-led Congress government, the pace had slowed down post 2012 election when the BJP returned to power, only to gain momentum during the last two years.
