Chandigarh, Mar 14 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said the construction of the 100-bed PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur would start soon with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya giving the go ahead for the same.

The SAD president, who has also written to the Union minister in this regard, claimed even though the erstwhile Akali-led government had transferred 27.5 acres of land for the PGI satellite centre after it was approved in 2016, the project was still to see the light of day.

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"Successive governments, including the previous Congress government and now the Aam Aadmi Party government, have not taken any effort to expedite the project," Badal claimed in a statement issued here.

He said it was unfortunate that the prestigious project had been "delayed" by seven years even after Rs 490.54 crore had been sanctioned for it along with transfer of the project site to a PGIMER-Chandigarh committee.

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The major sufferers were the people of Ferozepur who had to traverse long distances for specialty care, the SAD chief said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)