Shimla: Major deviations stop IGMC from using new OPD block

Tribune News Service

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, September 8

Major deviations from the sanctioned construction plan and the pending National Green Tribunal (NGT) approval are keeping Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC) from using the newly-built OPD Block.

150 pc deviation

• Constructed at a cost of Rs 103 crore, the block was supposed to have 10 plus one floors with a built-up area of 10,116 square metre
• However, the building ended up having 16 plus one floors with a built-up area of 24,824 square metre, a deviation of nearly 150 per cent!

Constructed at a cost of Rs 103 crore, the block was supposed to have 10 plus one floors with a built-up area of 10,116 square metres as per the sanctioned plan. The building, however, ended up having 16 plus one floors with the built-up area ballooning to 24,824 square metre, a deviation of nearly 150 per cent!

In view of these deviations, the high-powered Supervisory Committee, appointed by the NGT, had advised the “applicant to approach the NGT for further consideration and approval of their case” in February last year.

The government, however, seems undecided about approaching the NGT. “We will see what needs to be done,” said Principal Secretary (Health) Subhasish Panda when asked whether and when the government intends to go to the NGT for approval. “We must bear in mind that the building has been constructed for public welfare and there’s a massive constraint of space at the IGMC,” said Panda.

Incidentally, the OPD block has already been inaugurated by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in January this year. It was inaugurated after the High Court (HC) allowed the government to use the new OPD block solely for Covid-19 patients in view of the third Covid wave gathering pace in the state.

“The government had gone to the HC challenging the 2017 NGT order and to seek permission for operationalising the new block. The court, however, allowed only limited use for Covid 19 patients,” said an IGMC official. “The petition against the NGT order is pending in the court.”

As a result of these deviations and pending approvals, patients will have to wait longer for several facilities that they would get in the new block. “One major facility that was required urgently is the trauma centre. A couple of floors have been dedicated to the trauma centre in the new block, but this too has got stuck due to the deviations,” said the IGMC official.

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