Mangalore, October 15 : The Health Minister U T Khader cautioned the that contractors will be blacklisted if they fail to finish-up the construction work of ONGC-MRPL Lady Goschen Hospital Block within specified time, during a meeting which was held on Wednesday, October 15th at Lady Goschen Hospital in Mangalore.
Minister said, the delayed construction work was not only a black mark on the Government but also depriving the patients of the much needed state-of-the-art medical facilities.
The foundation stone for the Rs 21.5 crore project, sponsored by ONGC-MRPL Lady Goschen Hospital Block was laid on March 18th , 2013 as part of MRPL’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. A bill of Rs 8.4 crore was raised by the contractors of which Rs 6.09 crore was already paid and the remaining amount was pending. Though the work was supposed to be completed by September- 2014, the contractors had delayed construction work stating the pending amount was not paid.
Considering this, Khader said the contractors should complete work upto Rs 3 crore at least and the money would be sanctioned.
With the same opine, B Ramanath Rai Forest and Ecology Minister said “trivial reasons were being given for the delay of the construction work. Further it had become a common excuse among contractors to not finish up the work stating that their bills have not been released.”
He also said, “The consultants, agency, contractors and MRPL should synchronise their work and ensure that the work will be completed.”
Sushilchandra MRPL General Manager said “there was a delay in the payment of bill due to certain internal issues. As the issue is sorted now, the pending money will be sanctioned soon.
During this visit, Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Abhaychandra Jain were present.
