Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Nov 19: The New Type Primary Health Centre at Madwan village of Hajin in North Kashmir’s Bandipora district awaits completion for 13-years with administration blaming paucity of funds for the delay.
Locals expressed their dissatisfaction with the authorities’ apparent abandonment of the project, which has seen no progress in last three years. The area was scheduled to be utilized for the Eid-Gah, but the people donated it for the greater good of the community, but they were let down by official disinterest.
“We generously surrendered the precious land to the Government for the human cause and to end our sufferings in terms of medical health care,” a local said.
According to residents, the hospital’s foundation stone was laid in 2008, but due to the slow pace of development, it is yet to be completed.
Locals complain that in absence of the health centre, they are reliant on a sub-centre with only a first-aid facility, which has been inaccessible since the COVID19 began. “Only Asha workers and a pharmacist are available to assist individuals at any time,” Hassan explained.
Residents said that for the previous 12 years, the construction company has only been able to complete four walls of a single structure.
The building, which was supposed to be a full-fledged medical centre, was used for a range of activities, including drying crops, sun-drying fabrics and domesticating birds. “There are no doors or windows in the building,” Ghulam Hassan, a local said.
The locals said that NTPHC if built, would have been a huge help to the residents of this hamlet and the people who live nearby because it would have all of the latest facilities and specialized doctors.
The Block Medical Officer Hajin, Aijaz Ahmad, told Excelsior that they have already raised the issue with the construction agency and are hopeful. “We have raised the issue with the concerned construction company several times, but the construction agency is citing lack of funds. We have also discussed the subject in the recently held block Dewas and are hopeful,” he said.
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