Hospital bungalows unoccupied for years, over Rs 1 crore wasted

Four bungalows constructed at a cost of Rs 1.26 crore by Delhi government’s Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital for its senior officials have been lying unused over the last five years.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has pointed this out in his latest report released on Tuesday.

This hefty amount was spent on construction of four residential bungalows for the director, principal and medical superintendent of GTB and UCMS.
The property is now in poor condition due to lack of maintenance.

Personal reasons
According to the CAG report, the principal of University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) and the medical superintendent of GTB were unable to shift to the newly constructed bungalows for personal reasons.

The bungalows could not be alloted to other officers as there was no demand.
Also, even though the records mention that the medical superintendent had expressed the need for the buildings in 2005, there are no official records or minutes of the meeting to substantiate it.

Faculty club
In 2010, it was decided that two bungalows would be utilised for faculty club or destressing room and the other two for the purpose of guesthouse.

After the proposal was put forward for the approval of the Finance Department, the file reportedly went missing in September 2014 and the permission could not be sought.
The non-occupancy of the bungalows for more than five years indicates that these were constructed without any need and the expenditure incurred is unfruitful, says the CAG report.

The matter was referred to the government in 2014. Till April 2015, there was no response on it.

The CAG report also raps the Institute of Liver and Billiary Sciences (ILBS) for deviating from the business model prepared for the institute.

The Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (HSCC) had prepared a business model for ILBS which was approved by the Cabinet in 2006.

The institute is paying regular pay scales instead of consolidated salary packages. The staff were also being given house rent allowances at rates higher than the admissible rates.

The matter was referred to the government in 2015 and there was no response till April 2015, according to the CAG report.