Anantnag: Work on Rehmat-e-Alam hospital in Anantnag has been suspended since June this year because of paucity of funds.
Subsequently, the abandoned structure has been occupied by government forces since Amarnath Yatra in June.
Located in Sarnal area on the outskirts of Anantnag town, the hospital was taken over from a private trust by PDP-BJP government in 2015.
Sources in health department say that the plan was to shift the Maternity and Children Hospital (MCH) of Sherbagh, Anantnag to this building as the MCH is cramped and declared unsafe by the Fire and Emergency department.
The project was handed over to JKPCC after Mehbooba Mufti took over the government with an estimated cost of Rs 12.10 crore.
The paucity of funds, however, ensued that the work dragged on at a snail’s pace, sources said. “Only Rs 4-5 crore were released and the work was dragging on,” they added.
The work on the project came to a halt altogether when around 200 government forces personnel moved into the building in June this year for the security of Amarnath Yatra.
While the yatra was suspended mid-way ahead of abrogation of Article 370, however, forces stayed put in the facility and the work on the project has remained on a halt since then.
JKPCC managing director for Anantnag Ghulam Muhammad Dar, however, said that work on the project will be started soon saying funds amounting to Rs 8 crore were cleared for the project recently.
The Lieutenant Governor, in his recent visit to Anantnag, has cleared Rs 8 crore for the project, he said. “So the funds issue has been more or less sorted now,” Dar told Kashmir Reader.
According to him, he has talked to the concerned Deputy Commissioner and several police officials to make sure that the government forces vacate the building soon.
“I have been assured that they will leave the facility soon,” Dar said and added that the project will be completed within 8 to 9 months.
“It could have been sooner but the weather does not permit certain work to be carried out in Kashmir. That is why I am taking a safe time frame of 9 months. But the primary thing is that the forces should vacate soon,” Dar said.

Suhail A Shah