JAMMU: In order to review the status of establishment of new medical colleges at Kathua, Doda and Rajouri and on-going health projects across the State, Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat convened two separate meetings with the officers of concerned executing agencies here today.
Principal Secretary Health & Medical Education, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Principal GMC, Jammu, Dr. Sunanda Raina, MD, JK Police Housing Corporation, Danish Rana, Chief Engineer, R&B, Sudheer Shaw, MD, JK Housing Board, Manmohan Singh, Director Finance, H&ME, Mohammad Rafiq, Joint Director Planning (H&ME), Madan Lal and other concerned officers from these organizations.
The Minister took detailed review of the activities related to the establishment of new medical colleges viz-a-viz released of funds, expenditure and physical status of work. He called upon the concerned officers to adopt proactive approach and remove all bottlenecks in the way of constructional activities. He directed for coordinated effort to remove any hurdle so that the projects are accomplished in a time bound manner. He issued specific directions for adhering to all norms with regard to the technical specifications, especially with regard to the utilization of judicious space strictly as per the requirements best suited for the patient care. He also called upon the concerned heads of the agencies to personally monitor the activities so that the targets are achieved well in time.
It was informed in the meeting that an amount of Rs. 51 crore has been released for each project to the concerned agency (s) and the tendering process has been started. The work on all three projects will start as soon as the tendering process completes.
While reviewing the progress of various on-going health projects in the State, the Minister was informed that as many as 20 big and medium projects under different schemes with a total estimated cost of Rs. 204.47 crore are in progress and at different stages of completion. An amount of Rs. 126.23 crore has been spent on these works till ending March 2017. These projects include some hospital buildings and nursing schools in various districts. The Minister directed the concerned agencies to prioritize things, speed up the pace of work and complete them in time line. He specifically directed for ensuring quality of work strictly as per the laid down norms and specifications. He also urged for timely submission of Utilization Certificates to the Government to ensure regular flow of remaining funds for each project.