‘Stuck forever’: Bandipora village waits 17 years for half-built hospital to open

Bandipora, Nov 14: Nearly 17 years after the foundation stone was laid for a New Type Primary Health Centre (NTPHC) in Madwan village of Hajin medical block in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district, residents say the hospital project is “stuck forever” and fear it may never serve the community it was meant for.

The hospital was proposed in 2008 and, according to locals, the site spread across around four kanals was donated equally by families from the area. Residents of Eidgahpora locality in the village said the land was used as an Eidgah before villagers agreed to hand it over for the health facility, hoping it would ease their long-standing struggle for a nearby healthcare centre.

“We donated this sacred land generously for the human cause and to alleviate our sufferings,” said villager Feroz Ahmad Wani.

Today, villagers say, the half-built structure remains “abandoned” and of no use. They said that in all these years, the authorities have only managed to erect a concrete structure. Although the premises have now been fenced and the building gated, the structure is deteriorating even as it remains incomplete.

A middle-aged villager, Ghulam Mohammad Dar, who lives near the site, said the delay has stretched beyond what people can tolerate. “It was in 2008 when the foundation stone was laid, but it was never completed. We have to travel to Hajin CHC or Srinagar for medical treatment,” he said.

He added that residents are not linking the failure to any particular political government. “We have nothing to do with the political party in whose tenure this project was started, but what is surprising is that several such facilities are up and running while this has stuck like forever,” he said.

Villagers said they have approached officials for years without any result. “Whosoever we met in the government or administration provided assurances and nothing. We are always told there were no funds available,” a resident said.

Some villagers said the building has ended up serving unintended purposes. Because of its open structure and long delay, locals often used it to dry crops, sundry cloth and mats, and even as a bird shelter, as the construction “moved at snail’s pace.”

Dar said the community now wants answers. “Our demand to authorities and the government is to investigate the matter and provide reasons why this project has lingered for so long,” he said.

Back in 2020, when Greater Kashmir reported on the issue, the then Block Medical Officer had acknowledged that the executing government agency had not released funds to the contractor, resulting in the abandonment of work. At that time, too, villagers said the hospital had already been lying unattended for “more than three years with no construction happening on the project.”

Residents now say the condition has “more or less remained unchanged.”

Responding to the fresh concerns, Block Medical Officer Hajin, Dr Mohammad Idrees, said Madwan is among several health infrastructure projects in the block that have encountered long delays over the years. He said a field visit was recently conducted, and an updated status report has been forwarded to the district administration.

According to him, only “certain pending works” remain, and there is “hope that construction will resume soon and the hospital works will be completed.”