With only few months remaining for the next Assembly elections, the city Congress government is all set to launch and inaugurate a series of infrastructural development projects worth thousands of crores of rupees.
But atleast 19 projects of building government hospitals are in cold storage. Out of these, seventeen projects were announced by the city government, one project by the Centre and one by the municipal corporation. Some of these projects are more than 15 years old but are still on paper. According to a government data, foundation stones of 14 of these projects had been laid.
The biggest project among these is the construction of a 750 bedded hospital with a cost of `350 crore in Dwarka area of west Delhi. This project was first launched in the year 1996 for a 500 bedded hospital, but later the project was amended to 750-bedded hospital. However, the authorities rejected the amended design of the hospital. Now the officials have sent a new design to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Apart from this, chief minister Sheila Dikshit had laid the foundation stones for two hospitals in Hastsal and Madipur area of west Delhi, but the land has become a dump site for the local residents as the speed of construction work is very slow. Only one out of these 19 hospital projects is on the ground in Burari area.
A senior Delhi government official said that the government might grant funds for more dispensaries and hospitals in the upcoming budget session.