3 yrs on, damage to GIMS structure goes unrepaired
GREATER NOIDA: The basement of Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida has been facing infrastructure issues since 2019, said authorities on Thursday. The hospital building’s basement is waterlogged and has been developing cracks since 2019. As a result, a major portion of the basement remains unused.
Dr (Brig) Rakesh Gupta, director of GIMS, said that the infrastructure flaws in the basement pose a huge risk to the fivestorey building of the hospital where thousands of patients come everyday for treatment. He said he has been speaking to the authorities regarding the issue for the past few years and, last week, wrote to the Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate, requesting him to expedite a solution. “Groundwater keeps flowing into the second level of the basement and the whole area
becomes waterlogged... Some areas of the basement have also developed cracks,” said Dr Gupta.
He added that in his letter to the DM, he has explained that experts have termed the building unsafe. In 2019, a team from IIT Roorkee inspected the building and in 2020, it submitted its report to Greater Noida Industrial
Development Authority (GNIDA) and GIMS officials.
“The report said that the building is unsafe and suggested repair work worth ₹23 crore to fix the issues. In my letter to the DM, I requested him to write to the higher authorities to release funds so that the repair work can be initiated,” said Dr Gupta. When chief secretary of UP
Rajendra Kumar Tewari visited GIMS on September 3, the status was that GNIDA will provide the funds for repairs, he added.
“At the time we had discussed the matter with Mr Tewari and the GNIDA was ready to provide the funds. However, at GNIDA’S recent board meeting, the fund disbursal was not approved and it was decided that the Directorate of Medical Education and Training will provide them,” he said.
“...The directorate will have to release funds for the repairs,” said Narendra Bhooshan, GNIDA CEO.
Officials of the directorate could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, DM Suhas LY, said that he wrote to the principal secretary of medical education regarding the matter earlier this year. “This is a long-standing matter.the government needs to look into it. I have already written to the principal secretary,” he said.