Chandigarh, May 15 -- Approved in 2015, the multilevel parking project work at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has been hanging fire for the past 10 months. Meant to provide a convenient parking area to patients, the seven-storey structure's construction had to be halted in July last year when the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) issued a notice as the PGIMER did not obtain environmental clearance from it. It has been 10 months but the institute is yet to hire an environment consultant who will assess the project and apply for CPCC's clearance, much to the chagrin of visitors who point out that despite approval 11 years ago and award of the contract three years ago, the project is yet to see daylight. The contract was awarded in May 2023 with a deadline of 18 months. According to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, issued by the ministry of environment and forests, building and construction projects having a built-up area of more than 20,000 square metres require environmental clearance. The multilevel parking project is spread over 26,000 square metres. The issue came to light after it was flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which informed the CPCC. In its July 21, 2025 notice, the CPCC mentioned that the PGIMER didn't obtain consent for the construction in accordance with Section 21 of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, and Sections 25 and 26 of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The PGIMER has been in the process of issuing a Request for Proposal for an environmental consultant. A PGIMER official, seeking anonymity, said there have been structural delays in processing the tender for hiring a consultant as the Request for Proposal has to be approved by a committee that sought a few revisions. "The revisions were made in the proposal based on the committee's recommendations. The first tender got cancelled due to lower number of eligible applicants. The hospital engineering and planning department will again float bids on May 25," the official said. The 26,000-square-metre parking project, costing Rs.61 crore and having the capacity to accommodate over 900 cars, was approved by the Standing Finance Committee in 2015. The contractor, who got the contract in May 2023, got a deadline of 18 months. Initially, the project got delayed due to the removal of an electrical substation by UT administration. Contractor Rishabh Sharma said 70% of the work has been completed. "If the work is resumed by next month, it will be completed by 2027," he said. Lt Col Gurvinder Singh Bhatti, PGIMER's superintending hospital engineer, said, "We are in the process of issuing a Request for Proposal for hiring a consultant. Once an environment consultant is on board, clearance for other projects will also be sought simultaneously." With around 20,000 vehicles entering the PGIMER daily, the tertiary care hospital is dealing with congestion and parking issues. Due to a lack of space, patients' vehicles can be seen parked outside PGIMER gates, in Sector 11 market and on nearby roads. The parking chaos is expected to further escalate with full operationalisation of advanced neuroscience and mother-child centres. These centres have parking, but it is limited to faculty. At present, there are 26 staff parking and five paid parking facilities in the PGIMER, with a capacity of around 5,500 vehicles. The paid parking for the public is available in the old multilevel building (650), two-wheeler parking near the new OPD building (200), Advanced Cardiac Centre (150), and Advanced Paediatric Centre (20-25 cars and 20 two-wheelers). The parking capacity for visitors is around 1,400 while the rest is for staff....