Koderma: With barely 6% work finished till date, the 300-bed medical college and hospital in Koderma missed its January 7, 2022 deadline. The construction agency has blamed the delay on issues like lack of NOCs and threats from locals for jobs and sought protection from the administration and police.
Sanjeev Tudu, AGM of Simplex, said one of the main reasons behind the delay is lack of timely granting of no objection certificates from competent authorities for beginning the work.
“For example, 39 old buildings were present at the spot where we are building the medical college and they had to be demolished. We needed clearance from the forest for chopping the trees. After a lot of delay, we got NOC in this site only in June 2019. There were also problems of availability of sand for which we had put several requests to the district administration, besides routine problems by locals. At the sadar hospital in Koderma, which is at a distance of 4km from Karma, we have to come up with a 300-bedded hospital, which is a part of the entire project, for which we still haven't got an NOC,” he said.
On August 2, 2019, Simplex Infrastructures Limited had taken up the task to finish the project, but the locals allegedly started demanding work and began threatening the company’s staff and officials, the firm said. In a letter to the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police, the company has recently sought protection for the staff and said they are unable to work at the desired pace because of fear.
Speaking to TOI, Koderma SP Ehresham Waquarib said, “The deputy superintendent has been asked to visit the site for a detailed inquiry. Construction work will not be hampered due to security reasons. Police will ensure safety and security at the site.”
The Jharkhand State Building Construction Corporation Limited (JSBCCL), which is monitoring the project, acknowledged that the local issues delayed the medical college work. Amit Kumar, the executive engineer of JSBCCL, said, “The slow progress of the work is due to some local issues which will be sorted out soon. We are trying to speed up the work.”
The medical college, the foundation for which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018, is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 319 crore in Karma area of the district. The college, spread over 69.85 acres, will have 100 MBBS seats. The first phase of the project will see the construction of the medical college in Karma and upgrade of the sadar hospital into a 300-bed hospital.