Jharkhand Government on Thursday is learnt to have filed an affidavit in response to notice issued by High court seeking explanation on the cause of delay in construction and completion of 500-bed super specialty wing of Sadar hospital in the heart of the city capital.

Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh who was asked by the court to explain the delay sought apology for the delay and told the court that the state government is taking all necessary efforts to complete the project by the end of this year.

The Government told the court that due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and lockdown therein, the project got delayed. 

Currently the super specialty wing is partially operational with provision of 200 beds without any operational ICU.

The National Buildings Construction Corporation, under the Union urban development ministry, had constructed this super speciality centre on a super built-up area of 750,000sqft with an investment of Rs 131 crore. The building includes basement and G+8 floors. Construction work started in 2008 and it was completed in 2011. But the furnishing work was not undertaken and the building kept lying unused for many years as successive governments took no effort to carry forward the plan.

Initially, the State Government planned to operate this wing on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. But private players hardly showed any interest.

In 2016, Jyoty Sharma, an RTI activist and social worker filed a PIL in this regard over non-operation of the hospital.