PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The State Health minister, Dhan Singh Rawat gave the officials from the executing agencies a dressing down on the spiralling costs of various ongoing projects at government medical colleges under the Medical Education department. He expressed his displeasure over executional delay, resulting in cost surge while chairing a review meeting focused on the State-run medical colleges in Haridwar, Rudrapur, Almora and Pithoragarh held at the Government Doon Medical College on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the officials from the executing agencies gave PowerPoint presentations on the status of these construction projects.
Rawat stressed that they must ensure timely completion of the projects as stipulated in the detailed project report (DPR). “This is their contractual obligations and they must conform to these. The practice of submitting re-estimations by these agencies is wrong,” he said, adding that these delays weigh heavily on the government budget with surging costs.
Also, Rawat instructed the departmental officers to conduct regular monitoring from the stage of DPR preparation to the completion of the construction work.
He further said that an additional 200 naali of land would be acquired for the Almora Medical College to facilitate campus expansion. “An alternative route is to be built up to connect the medical college and the hospital,” he said. He directed the secretary, Health to arrange a virtual meeting with the district magistrate of Almora soon to discuss land acquisition and the alternative route.
Furthermore, he instructed the departmental officers to ensure that the completed buildings and hostels of the medical colleges are formally handed over.
