Patna: Rs 513 crore sanctioned for new hospital building at IGIMS

PATNA: The state cabinet on Tuesday sanctioned Rs513. 21 crore for the new hospital building with 1200 beds at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna.

State cabinet secretariat department’s principal secretary Deepak Prasad said with the new building, the overall capacity of IGIMS will increase to 2700 beds with over 100 beds in intensive care units (ICUs).

“IGIMS expansion works are underway and the new building will have 1000 beds. The hospital will have total 2700 beds with the construction of new building,” Deepak said.

Altogether 22 proposals were approved by the state cabinet on Tuesday.

In another decision, the cabinet approved Rs250 crore from Bihar Contingency Fund for providing compensation to people affected by floods in monsoon season earlier this year. “A sum of Rs2300 crore has already been released this year from Bihar Contingency Fund for flood relief and compensation measures,” Deepak said.

The cabinet also approved several proposals from transport department related to issuance of pollution under control (PuC) certificate and licences for centres issuing the certificates.

“The validity of PuC issued to vehicles with engines prior to BS (Bharat Stage)-4 will be six months. The PuC validity for vehicles with BS-4 and BS-6 engines will be one year,” he said.

He said the cabinet also approved proposal for reducing the annual licence fee for centres issuing PuC from Rs12,000 to Rs5,000. “Besides, the educational qualification for technical staff checking vehicular emission has been relaxed from engineering degree to plus-two or ITI certificates as well,” Deepak said, adding that norms have also been relaxed to pave way for opening of more PuC centres at petrol pumps, automobile service centres and showrooms.

Besides, PuC certificates will now be issued online through Vahan software of transport department.

The state cabinet also approved new guidelines for implementation of National Pension Scheme (NPS) for state government employees appointed in or after the year 2005. Besides, the cabinet cleared an energy department’s proposal to allow Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited to take funds to the tune of Rs1050 crore from banks as working capital loan for its distribution companies.