Adil Lateef
Srinagar, Dec 17: A Sub-Health Centre (SHC) inaugurated 22 years ago in Kupwara district of North Kashmir is lying defunct with people using it as cowshed and authorities are ignorant.
Locals told Excelsior that in year 1992, Government started construction of the Sub-Health Centre at Muqam-e-Shah Wali in Kupwara and after three years in 1995, it was inaugurated by the then Deputy Commissioner BR Sharma. Situated adjacent to a stream, the SHC is a single storey building with four rooms and one bathroom. However, the condition of the SHC is completely in contrast to a health institute.
A local resident said that after being inaugurated on May 19, 1995, the SHC never functioned as a health institute and for last 22 years, it is lying defunct. “First of all, the location of the SHC was wrong. Now that they constructed it 22 years ago, the SHC was never made functional. We never saw any staffer here and the situation today is in front of you. It was complete waste of State funds,” said Abdul Ahad, the local resident.
Sources said the condition of the SHC is highly dilapidated. “The glasses and window panes of the building have been damaged. The approach road to the SHC has been encroached upon by the locals as some of them claim that their land was forcibly taken away by Government at that time,” they said, adding: “At present in winters, the locals have stored grass in the SHC and they use it as cowshed in summers.”
Muhammad Abdullah, a local resident, who claimed his land was forcibly taken away by Government at the time of construction of the SHC, said that the Sub-Centre never became functional. “After taking my land, I was promised job in the Sub-Centre but it was never made functional by the successive Governments after completion of the construction. They only wasted money and land,” he said. Sources, however, said that the land on which the SHC was constructed was grazing land.
When contacted, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Praladh Singh, said that he will personally visit the SHC to check its condition. “Now that you have brought the matter into my notice, I will go there and check personally,” he told Excelsior. He informed as per norms, a pharmacist and two multi-purpose workers should be appointed at any Sub-Health Centre. “This stands for SHC Muqam-e-Shah Wali. But, I will go myself there and check”, he said.
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