People warn of protest if work on hospital not resumed

MANSEHRA: People have warned of blocking the Oghi-Mansehra Road to all sorts of traffic for an indefinite period if the construction work on Tehsil Headquarter Hospital was not resumed in a week.

“The previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had sanctioned Rs250 million for this hospital but not a single penny was released so far and that is why the contractor has stopped construction work on it,” Shaukat Hayat, the former village nazim, told a news conference in Oghi on Thursday.

A group of residents, including former local government representatives, told reporters that the construction work was halted by the contractor concerned as the government didn’t release the money to him.

Hayat said that then MPA Wajihuzzaman Khan in 2017 had laid the foundation stone for the hospital but since then the government didn’t release the money to the contractor concerned, forcing him to stop the work.

A former councillor Mohammad Naeem said that people of the Oghi tehsil had been deprived of healthcare and treatment services and they were taking patients to hospitals in parts of Hazara.

He said that PTI MPA Nawabzada Fareed had last month announced that the chief minister had approved Rs100 million fund but that money was also not released yet, adversely affecting that important project.

“If the government doesn’t release sanctioned money for this project within a week, we will take to the streets against the suspension of work,” said Naeem.

Ghulam Sadiq, the contractor concerned, when approached, said that he had stopped work as the government has not released the amount.

“I have spent over Rs40 million from my pocket and cannot spend more, this is why I stopped work until funds sanctioned for this hospital project were released,” said Sadiq.