PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, Feb 16: The construction of the 500-bed super-specialty project at Sadar Hospital Ranchi missed its tenth deadline of handing it over to the hospital management on Tuesday.
The construction company was supposed to hand over the building to the hospital management on February 15. During the hearing of the case on January 22, the court was told by the government that only 95 percent of the work has been completed so far.
It was told by the contractor that all the works except civil works would be completed in 15 days. Taking this seriously, the court directed to complete the work by February 15; otherwise, contempt proceedings would be initiated.
Jharkhand State Building Construction Corporation Limited Executive Engineer Sunil Kumar said that the work is almost completed and the testing of components is being done.
“The staff is also trained to operate the components fitted in the hospital. Within 10-15 days the building handover procedure will start and will be handed over to the hospital management,” Kumar said.
Deputy Superintendent of Sadar Hospital, Dr. SS Mandal said that more than one month of work is required in the hospital and the Jharkhand High Court will also give its judgment on February 18 regarding the delay in handing over the building to the hospital management.
Ranchi Civil Surgeon Vinod Kumar said, “Till the work of Sadar Hospital is not completed, we will not take the handover under any circumstances. Taking a partial handover leads to trouble later.”
According to the workers, it may take about a month more for the completion of the hospital work. However, they said that if the work is done fast, then the work can be completed even more quickly.
The work of seven floors is almost complete. Apart from this, some work on the eighth floor is still pending. Many works including the lift have been completed while some work is still pending in other parts including Central Kitchen and OT.
The project started in 2007 is yet to be completed with the original budget inflating from Rs 127 crore to almost Rs 350 crore now.
Earlier, the deadline had failed in December 2018, June 2019, December 2019, April 2020, May 2021, June 2021, September 2021, October 2021, January 2022.
