Bhubaneswar, March 16: The Odisha government is planning to set up a dedicated civil engineering wing to carry out construction for health care facilities across the state.

The public works department (PWD) and rural works (RW), an organisation under the rural development department (RWD), have already submitted a proposal in this regard.

Odisha health department sources said in most cases, the development works of health institutions were delayed because of the delay in preparation of plan, design, estimation and finalisation of tender. “With a dedicated engineering wing, the development works should be expedited,” said a senior official.

The PWD has proposed to set up a state-level project management unit under the chief engineer (building) and proposed to have 66 staff look after it.

There will be one superintending engineer and one assistant engineer besides an executive architect. The proposal also includes the recruitment of 54 junior engineers.

“We have already sent the proposal for the approval of the government. This needs a funding of around Rs 80 lakh a year,” said chief engineer (building) S.R. Sethi.

Likewise, the RWD will set up a state-level project unit and one superintending engineer will be placed to monitor the works of the health and family welfare department. The department will also create 178 posts including 110 junior engineers.

After having a detailed discussion regarding the proposal in February, development commissioner-cum-additional chief secretary J.K. Mohapatra has also instructed the director of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide the required assistant engineers and junior engineers from existing staff under the NRHM and also to conduct fresh recruitments following the proposal by PWD and RW.

“This will enable quick execution of development projects of health institutions. The proposal will soon be sent to the government for approval,” said health secretary P.K. Mohapatra.