Kalahandi Medical College land lies deserted, with no construction work in sight

Bhawanipatna: The proposed Medical College at Bangabari whose foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik on November 16, 2016, with a promise of construction work beginning soon seems to have seen no progress, thereafter. The Chief Minister had promised completion of construction by 2018 and commencement of UG admissions for the Ist batch in 2019-20. The college in question was to be established with the help of the Vedanta Foundation which was to give Rs 150 crore for the project.

The defunct campus of the veterinary hospital with an 80.8-acre spread was chosen as the site for setting up of a medical college by the state government.

Earlier, a liquid nitrogen plant and a bull semen collection center operated on the campus till 1988-89. After the plant closed and later the veterinary hospital got shelved, the Government demolished the existing infrastructures to start a new construction for the institute. However, except for building a small portion of the college boundary wall, nothing has been accomplished till now.

According to sources, an architectural firm based in Germany was taken on to design the infrastructure of the college. The Medical Council of India (MCI) is to approve the design prior to the beginning of the construction, reports the New Indian Express.However, the firm is yet to submit the design. The district administration and district health officials are unaware of the latest development of the project, state sources..

The State Government has also neglected restart of the medical college at Jaring set up by Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust of Tamil Nadu. The MCI’s withdrawal of the letter of permission from the college has kept the future of the college, built on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, uncertain.

With the scrapping of the memorandum of understanding between the government and the Selvam Trust, no visible effort to find fresh investors has been taken by the state for the revival of the institute, reports TNIE.

The campus is lying deserted with no provisions having been made to protect the property; leaving it vulnerable to unscrupulous encroachments.