The much-publicised Rs 150 crore Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences project in Jalandhar is yet to be completed, even though the state government had announced the starting of the first academic session of from April last year.

The foundation stone of this project was laid on two occasions by the then-Punjab Chief Ministers - Mr Beant Singh and later Mr Parkash Singh Badal. The then-Prime-Minister, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, had also sanctioned a Central Government grant of Rs 25 crore towards the project.

The Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences with 500-bed hospital was planned to be set up on the land meant for the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) research centre for sugarcane on the Garha Road here about a decade back.

The state government had handed over the land to the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) under the Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government Land (OUVGL) Scheme. PUDA authorities, under the scheme, were supposed to fund the project cost through sale proceeds of commercial area of the land.

The work for construction of the institute's building was allotted to Larsen and Toubro (L&T) in October 2001. However, the work still remains to be completed owing to many reasons, including lack of coordination among the contractors and the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) authorities.

A construction manager with the L&T in a complaint to the PSHC alleged that a sub-divisional engineer was asking for a monthly commission from a peon of one of the sub-contractors. The complaint, a copy of which is in possession of The Tribune, further said that the official concerned was threatening the private contractor with not giving the full amount of the due bills. Meanwhile, 90 per cent of the building has been completed, even as lab equipment and furniture are yet to be procured.

Construction of two tubewells at a cost of Rs 13.70 lakh was yet to be completed by the PHSC authorities. Due to the delay in setting up the requisite infrastructure over the last three years, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has so far not granted its approval to start the academic session.

When contacted, the Director-cum-Principal of the institute, Mr J.S. Dalal, said, "The Punjab Medical Education and Research Minister, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, has convened a meeting on January 17 to deliberate upon the issues. We are going to open up the hospital for public, while the academic session would start only after the approval of the MCI.”