B’pora: The locals in Bandipora have demanded shifting of offices of the Health Services to old District Hospital complex Bandipora to save the complex from becoming a hub of anti-social activities.
Locals said soon after shifting the hospital to the new complex, the old complex has been abandoned by the district administration that has left the locals worried about the space as it has been occupied by the anti-social elements including drug addicts.
They said the District Medical Board has been shifted into the old complex but that functions only twice a week for a few hours in a single room and few rooms are occupied by BMO office while the rest of the complex has been abandoned. “The place is slowly falling into the hands of drug addicts as is evident from the bottles and syringes scattered in the premises every day,” said Shabir Ahmad, a local.
Locals suggested that the offices of Chief Medical Officer, Block Medical Officer, Indian System of Medicines, Deputy Chief Medical Officer be shifted from Mini-Secretariat to the old complex so that the space can be well used and protected from becoming a hub of anti-social activities.
Ahmad said that the government offices in Mini-Secretariat are already short of accommodations and if these departments are shifted to old complexes, more space will be available for other offices in the Mini-Secretariat. “The district administration always complains of space shortage in Mini-Secretariat, shifting these offices will make more than a dozen rooms vacant that can be well used by the administration for other purposes,” he added. He said more than 14 rooms have been occupied by CMO office, ISM office and DyCMO office in Block-C of the Mini-Secretariat.
While talking to reporter, Deputy Commissioner said that the Block Medical Office has been shifted to the old DH complex while ISM has also been directed to shift to the old DH complex. He said the suggestion from the locals is well taken and the administration will take steps to use the space available in the old DH Complex in a better way.