*Governor to review road connectivity issue on Sept 28
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 24: In a major development ahead of its proposed commissioning in the month of December this year, the Expert Appraisal Committee of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended Environ-ment Clearance to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board’s Institute of Medical Excellence at Kakryal near the holy town of Katra with certain conditions.
In the meanwhile, the Governor N N Vohra, who is also the Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, is going to review the progress on road connectivity to the Institute of Medical Excellence on September 28 so that road connectivity doesn’t create any hurdle in timely commissioning of the project.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in its meeting held recently at Union Capital has recommended the project for grant of Environment Clearance. “Now, the Union Ministry will formally issue Environment Clearance to the project proponent anytime in near future”, sources added.
After detailed deliberations, the Expert Appraisal Committee has laid specific conditions, which include multi-tier parking system and dedicated helicopter service/ air ambulance helipads to be introduced to facilitate sick pilgrims, sources informed, adding “Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has already kick-started the process of having dedicated helipads for the landing of air ambulances and arrangements with interested aviation companies would be made in near future”.
According to the sources, environment clearance has been recommended for whole of the complex, which includes 620-bed Multi Specialty Hospital, Medical College (Teaching Buildings), Nursing College, Patient and Attendant Amenities, Staff and Student Accommodation etc.
As far as specific conditions vis-à-vis operation phase are concerned, the Expert Appraisal Committee has laid much thrust on management of bio-medical wastes in accordance with the Bio-Medical Waste (Managem-ent and Handling) Rules, 1998. It has made it clear that installation of the Sewage Treatment Plant should be certified by an independent expert and a report in this regard should be submitted to the Ministry before the project is commissioned for operation.
Moreover, the Expert Appraisal Committee has laid much thrust on strict adherence to the rules under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for the diesel power generating sets proposed as source of back-up power for elevators and common area illumination during operation phase.
Considering the importance of Institute of Medical Excellence, the Committee has observed that J&K houses 1.04% of the population of India and is growing faster at the rate of 23.071% as per 2011 census. The population density is lower than the country thus increasing the catchment areas (in terms of distance) for health care facilities.
“There is minimal private investment in health care hence lack of high quality secondary and tertiary health care facilities in the State. The people of J&K are majorly dependent on the Government facilities for their healthcare and there is pressing need for better healthcare facilities, especially in multi-specialty and tertiary care as such Institute of Medical Excellence would have much importance”, the Expert Appraisal Committee has further observed while recommending Environment Clearance.
According to the sources, the Governor wants to make the Institute of Medical Excellence fully functional in the month of December so that no problem is faced in providing quality healthcare facilities after throwing it open for the patients.
Meanwhile, Mr Vohra is going to review the status of road connectivity to the Institute of Medical Excellence on September 28, 2015. He had travelled on Domel-Kakryal, Highway-Kakryal, Kakryal-Katra and Katra-Domel roads on September 11 to personally review the status of these road networks. He even had a meeting with R&B Minister with regard to time bound upgradation of these roads.
According to the sources, Domel-Kakryal road is single lane besides in pitiable condition and its up-gradation is imperative to provide smooth connectivity to the Institute of Medical Excellence. Similarly, Highway-Kakryal Road doesn’t have proper protection walls at numerous places and Governor has already issued directions for gearing up protection works for making the road traffic worthy even during the rainy season when generally mud slides disrupt traffic.
“The Governor after assessing the latest condition of these roads would pass directions for completion of remaining works in a time bound manner”, sources further said.
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