Even after years of delay, the state government has provided barely a fraction of the total funds required for the construction of a new hospital building at Dharampur to the Public Works Department (PWD), Kasauli.
“The health department had granted Rs 1.98 crore earlier and Rs 2 crore recently to the PWD for the construction of a new building of the hospital at an estimated cost of Rs 17 crore,” said Executive Engineer, Kasauli, Gurminder Rana.
As per the earlier norms, the PWD usually invited tenders after 30 per cent of the total funds required had been made available. With the government facing a paucity of funds, the PWD officials have been strictly directed not to take up new works until the total funds are available and even consider diverting funds to incomplete projects of the same department.
As the Parwanoo-Solan road was being widened to four lanes, the old health centre building abutting the road was demolished and a compensation of Rs 3.67 crore was deposited in the government treasury.
The government has not transferred this amount to the PWD and not provided the remaining funds for setting up the new building with upgraded facilities even though health officials consistently pursued the case with it.
The hospital was shifted to a new building having limited capacity after the old structure was demolished. Given the high patient footfall in this public health centre, it was upgraded to a 50-bed community health centre in 2021. Three bighas available in the vicinity of the hospital was earmarked for the construction of the upgraded facility, which was to house an improved lab and specialists.
Local residents have been eagerly awaiting the upgrade of facilities at the Community Health Centre, Dharampur, which caters to at least 20 to 25 nearby panchayats.
Successive state governments had not provided funds for setting up a 50-bed community health centre at Dharampur in Solan district though the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had given Rs 3.67 crore as compensation for the demolition of its old building eight years ago.
Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri had raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha. Every time the officials moved a proposal to seek funds, a plethora of objections were raised, including justification for the estimated budget of Rs 17 crore required for setting up a 50-bed health facility.
The paucity of funds for this hospital has belied the hopes of the residents and exposed the state government’s tall claims of providing high-end health facilities to them.
This hospital caters to the Kasauli Assembly segment where over 81 per cent of the population resides in rural areas. With no other community health centre in the area, the rural people are denied proper healthcare as the hospital lacks both staff and facilities.
