AAP, BJP spar over delay in building of super specialty hospital by SDMC

However, the Delhi BJP said no extra payment has been made to the contractor of the hospital. Senior AAP leader and chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday claimed that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation could not build the Poornima Sethi Super Specialty Hospital even after 10 years but paid Rs 4.72 crore more than the fixed cost to the contractors.

The AAP on Wednesday claimed that BJP-ruled South municipal corporation could not build a super specialty hospital even after 10 years but paid Rs 4.72 crore more than the fixed cost to contractors. However, the Delhi BJP said no extra payment has been made to the contractor of the hospital.

Senior AAP leader and chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj on Wednesday claimed that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation could not build the Poornima Sethi Super Specialty Hospital even after 10 years but paid Rs 4.72 crore more than the fixed cost to the contractors. He further claimed that SDMC had issued a contract tender of Rs 9.88 crore in 2010 to build the hospital, but later changed the terms and gave a contract of Rs 30.96 crore to the same contractor. "Poornima Sethi Super Specialty Hospital, Kalkaji on paper is a 100 bedded, multi-speciality hospital. The hospital got approval in 2005, and the tender was released in 2010. The contractors were given an amount of Rs 9.88 crore.   "Later, the terms and conditions and scope of work outlined to those contractors were changed and increased to Rs 30.96 crore. This is not possible. The guidelines stated by the Central Vigilance Commission clearly state that this step cannot be done. But the BJP ruled South MCD still went ahead with it," Bhardwaj said. He further said that the hospital should have been functioning by 2012. "Around 10 years have passed but this hospital is still under construction. The payment of Rs 30.96 crore, which was made illegally to the contractor, instead of charging a penalty, he was paid an extra payment of Rs 4.72 crores," he said.

"We have proof of these allegations because we extracted them from BJP-ruled MCD's internal report of the Municipal Chief Auditor. The BJP claims in every press conference that our allegations are lies, but their own internal report claims otherwise," Bhardwaj added. Responding, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that no extra payment has been made to the contractor of SDMC Poornima Sethi Hospital. "The work order cost was Rs 30.95 crore and the amount paid is little less than Rs 30 crores, but the contractor was demanding additional Rs 2 crore and over the matter he had gone to court. Had he been paid why would he go to court," he said.

The delay in hospital operation is due to SDMC's financial crunch caused due to non- release of municipal funds by Delhi Government for the last several years. "Poornima Sethi Hospital was envisioned in 2005 with a cost approval of Rs 20.17 crore but due to financial crunch of MCD a small work order of Rs 9.87 crore was done in 2007," he said.  

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)