Five years on, PHC Waltengo awaits completion
Anantnag: The construction work on the Primary Health Centre at Waltengo in Kund area of Kulgam is going on at a snail’s pace raising fears among the locals that the completion may take several years.
Locals from Waltengo, the upper belt of Kulgam district said that work was started on the project in 2016 and since then over five years have passed but the building is nowhere near completion.
They said that if the work continues at the same pace it seems the building will take more than a decade to see completion of construction works.
The locals said that the building is being constructed by the R&B department which gets the work conducted for few months and then leaves it for months together.
“Leaving the building abandoned has turned it into hub of illegal activities,” the locals said.
The locals rued that the people suffer here for the want of a PHC and for even minor ailments they are forced to visit district hospital.
Gulzar Ahmad, a local resident said that people here are very poor and can’t afford to visit private clinics or other hospitals which are quite far off from the place.
He said that locals were happy that a PHC building was coming up in the area but the civil works are taking a lot of time to complete.
Locals requested concerned authorities to look into the matter and complete the building at an earliest so that locals can heave a sigh of relief.
Pertinently, the building is being constructed by R&B department at an estimated cost of 1 crore, 95 lakh and 81 thousands.
Meanwhile, Executive Engineer R&B division Qazigund Riyaz Ahmad said that slab for second storey has been laid already and only truss work is pending on which work will be started soon.
Chief Medical Officer Kulgam Dr Fazil Kochak said that they are forwarding reminders to the executive agency to complete the building at an earliest.
He said that hopefully this year the building will be made functional.
