Santosh Gangwar to meet UPRNNL high-ups to push ESIC's 4,000-crore projects

Worried over slow progress on ESIC's over 20 projects worth Rs 4,000 crore, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar will meet on Saturday top brass of Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd ( UPRNNL) to expedite works.

The UPRNNL is the implementing agency for these projects, including medical colleges, dispensaries, hospital across the country.

According to a senior official, "The labour minister is worried over slow progress on ESIC's projects. He has called a meeting of the UPRNNL top brass and concerned minister of Uttar Pradesh Government for speeding up the pace of work on October 21."

The official said the Employees' State Insurance Corp's over 20 projects worth more than Rs 4,000 crore are still under progress.

Some of these projects were awarded to the UPRNNL way back in 2008-09, but there has been a slow progress on these works.

The official also said that projects were awarded to the UPRNNL with an expectation of completing these projects well in time considering that it is a state-run corporation.

However, he said the UPRNNL failed to deliver projects on time and the work is moving at snail's pace, which can be a cause of concern for a large number of insured person covered under the medical insurance scheme run by the ESIC.

The ESIC has 2.13 crore insured persons across the country and covers a total of 8.28 crore beneficiaries.