While on the one hand, there is enough administrative “clamour” to do it all in 5 new Government Medical Colleges by this year especially in respect of the sessions of the academic courses, on the other hand the reality about these new ambitious projects concerning health and healthcare of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is, that none of these 5 Government Medical Colleges are completed in respect of raising of building structures and installation of the required necessary equipment. Although these projects are sanctioned and funded by the Central Government, the process of which started in 2019, yet the pace of construction work has remained erratic, slow, humpy and defaulting in adhering to the timelines fixed and even later revised. Agreements with the construction Companies/agencies must be having clauses of penalty incorporated for delays and other breaches to take care of added costs which otherwise become almost unavoidable and have got to be borne by the ”owners” of the projects.
In this connection, how does it speak about that even the quality and viability of the Detailed Project Reports prepared in respect of the construction of the buildings and premises of these Medical Colleges were felt to have missed various important components that surfaced only during the process of construction by the executing agencies. Why was not the same envisaged while making these Reports and who can be held responsible for that, perhaps, is treated just a routine matter in Jammu and Kashmir and all allowed in the process. How can the same yard sick of professionalism and technicalities, exercises of cost estimates and projections etc in carving of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) be applied in case of the Medical College at Kathua and that at Doda which means the geographical location, topography, element of transportation of men and material and ancillary inputs have been treated to ”remain as same” .
What is a matter of concern is that now the element of cost escalation has started bugging each project for which proper demand for additional funds has already started to be made by the executing agencies although a little negligible leverage to be considered is understandable due to COVID constraints etc but a yawning gap therein only points to factors other than apparent which means “the baby belonging to all but specifically to none”. It looks queer that the DPR should be prepared, vetted, approved and implemented without taking into consideration all aspects like construction and allied works, installation of machinery, equipments, fixtures etc instead of only the construction component. That entails two aspects – One, that another separate DPR or an akin detailed document needs to be prepared now and – Two- getting the same approved, funded and completing of other formalities taking their “own” time having an overall adverse impact on completion of the respective projects even within lavishly revised timeframes. That infrastructure of none of these 5 Medical Colleges has been completed as yet in all respects must be looked into seriously and those responsible asked to clarify and even problems faced in the process resolved or else these ”dream projects” shall elude all expectations and enthusiasm generated otherwise in the people of the UT in respect of these Medical Colleges.
Needless to add, any project, small, medium or large even if supported by proper funds, technical and experts’ guidance and support; bestowed with climatic, geographical and labour related favourable buttresses, still it will not have a smooth sail unless there was strict, frequent, meaningful and dedicated monitoring and close follow -up with elements of fixing accountability and addressing issues promptly as, when and where those prop up during the project execution. It, therefore, entails that whatever weaknesses or lacunae are witnessed in the projects of the new 5 Government Medical Colleges, it can be seen that they are because of absence of proper monitoring, “control”, field inspections and filing of reports on progress intermittently. We, therefore, expect the UT Administration, particularly the Health and Medical Education Department and other authorities to ensure that these Medical Colleges come up complete in all respects by this year as otherwise projected.
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