Rainwater seeps into PGI OTs
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh July, 9
Monsoon is the worst time of the year for the PGI. Because not only do the rains force the closure of the operation theatres but the kitchen and wards especially on the fifth floor too start leaking.

Dreading the worst, a circular has already been issued by the PGI authorities that the moment there is leakage in the operation theatre (OT) complex located on the fourth and fifth floors of the 40-year-old Nehru Hospital building, they should be closed.

Unconfirmed reports say that even today there was seepage in a portion of the OT complex. However, the authorities did not respond to the queries in this regard

“Though I heard that there was a seepage problem in the OT complex today, it is nothing unusual as it is an annual feature during monsoons,” remarked a doctor who came out of the OT after a surgery.

Every year the OT remains closed for a number of days, as even if a few drops of water trickle in the entire place has to be fumigated against any infection.

The heavy downpour this afternoon, led to seepage in the kitchen for the private ward patients on the fifth floor. “We manage by shifting the tables,” said a kitchen employee, pointing towards the utensils that had been kept at a number of places, where water was dripping from the roof.

The situation was no different in the male eye and ENT ward on the fifth floor, where the corridor was leaking. The roof outside the entrance to the ENT department office, where electric fittings have been done was also found to be leaking.

Though the proposal for a new OT complex is in the pipeline, due to paucity of funds it will take a few years before it can come up. To keep the show running, the engineering wing of the hospital undertakes some repair work to plug the leakage on the fifth floor.

“This being a stop-gap arrangement and not proper plugging of the leakage points, the problem recurs every monsoon,” admitted a doctor of the Surgery Department.

The PGI authorities when asked if the OT complex had been closed due to leakage, did not respond to the written queries.

ADMINISTRATION

Octroi collection: MC issues show-cause notice
Chitleen K Sethi
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, July 9
The municipal council (MC) here has slapped a show-cause notice on the contractor responsible for octroi collection in the township for harassing residents and non-payment of over Rs 40 lakh to the council. The notice, issued by the council yesterday, asked the contractor to reply within a week of receipt of the notice, failing which his contract with the MC would be terminated.

The show-cause notice comes in the wake of complaints received by the MC over the past two months, alleging harassment and misbehaviour at the hands of the various partners and musclemen of the contractor.

Despite widespread protest from all sections of the society, the municipal council had given octroi collection on contract from January 2003 for a whopping Rs 16.59 crore. The contractor had to pay the MC on a weekly basis but had failed to make the payment for the past two months.

A large number of residents had alleged that the contractor ‘s men were stopping the people even within the municipal limits to inquire about what they were carrying. A resident had informed the municipal council that the contractor’s men had started charging daily wage labourers, who lived in colonies on the borders and came into SAS Nagar every day with their equipment etc.

According to the MC Executive Officer, Mr Harbhagwan Garg, the contractor had not been replying to communications issued to him over the past two months and had also failed to pay over Rs 40 lakh to the council. ‘‘We have questioned him about the complaints we have received from the public but he has not bothered to give us a reply. Moreover, he has not paid us a large amount due to us, ’’said Mr Garg.

Quoting newspaper reports on cases of harassment, the show-cause notice states that in case no satisfactory reply is received by the MC office within a week of the receipt of the notice, the seven-month-old contract will be terminated. ‘‘The bank holding the Rs 16.59 crore security from the contractor has also been informed about the show-cause notice, ’’said Mr Garg.