AAP govt, LG blame each other for delay in completing 24 hospital projects

A blame game erupted between the AAP government in Delhi and the LG Secretariat on Wednesday with the two holding each other responsible for the delay in the completion of 24 hospital projects in the national capital.

They also accused each other of "planting" stories in the media.

In June 2020, there were scientific projections that Delhi would have 20 lakh coronavirus patients and around 80,000 of them would require hospitalisation, the AAP said in a statement.

"The Delhi government at that time was proactive to decide and allocate resources to... (arrange) thousands of ICU beds in the form of new hospitals and new hospital blocks. The Kejriwal government then always prioritised health of its people over budget constraints," it said.

Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj was constantly writing to the lieutenant governor (LG) regarding his duty to create posts for the upcoming hospitals, the ruling party said.

"The minister had been reminding the LG through written letters that till full-time permanent specialists and doctors are recruited through UPSC, the LG should initiate the process of hiring doctors and specialists on contract basis. However, the LG did not initiate that process... by citing very frivolous and lame excuses," the AAP charged.

Countering the AAP's claims, the LG Secretariat said in a statement that the construction of the 24 hospital buildings is nowhere near completion.

 

"The AAP statement takes alibi of Covid to justify the construction of 24 buildings worth Rs 10,000 crore, the construction of which started in 2020 with a deadline of one year, but all of them are yet far from completion," it said.

Running these hospitals will require Rs 5,000 crore every year and no budgetary provisions have been made for that, it said.

On the AAP's claim that Bharadwaj wrote to the LG regarding the creation of contractual posts for these hospitals, the LG Secretariat said that instead of writing "inane" notes, the minister would have done better to initiate the process of creation of posts for these hospitals.

The services department and the LG have nothing to do with the creation of posts, it said.