Construction of 100-bed PGI Satellite Centre in Ferozepur to start soon

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, March 14

SAD president and local Member of Parliament Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the construction of the 100-bed PGI Satellite Centre in Ferozepur, which was sanctioned almost a decade ago in 2013, would begin soon.

Badal announced this after his meeting with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, who had given a go-ahead for the centre, according to Badal.

Badal said he had taken up this matter umpteen times with the Ministry in this regard. Though the erstwhile SAD government had transferred 27.5 acres for the PGI Satellite Centre after it was approved in 2016, the project still could not see the light of day, he said.

“Successive ruling dispensations including the previous Congress and now the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government have not made any efforts to expedite the project,” he said, adding that it was a matter of immense satisfaction for the people of this border region that the Union Government had finally decided to give priority to this project and start its construction soon.

Badal said it was unfortunate that this prestigious project had been delayed even after Rs 490.54 crore was sanctioned for it along with transfer of the project site to a committee of the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

He said major sufferers were the border residents, who had to traverse long distances for specialised healthcare. “The project, once completed, will be a boon for the border belt residents,” he added.

Badal said he had also requested the Union Minister to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the project soon followed by its speedy construction. Notably, on January 5 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the PGI Satellite Centre ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls in the state. However, the project could not take off as the PM had to go back without launching the project following the farmers protest.

Earlier, the state government took almost seven years to provide suitable land for the project, which remained mired in controversies, for one reason or the other. In September 2021, the request for the proposal for the construction of the centre was issued and tenders were floated in the first week of October 2021.

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