Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 25, 2015 :

Odisha government on Monday took strong exception to the centre’s plan to shelve the proposed medical college by Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and threatened to hit the streets on the issue.

“It is unfortunate that the Union Minister said there is no proposal to open a medical college in the state by ESIC in the immediate future. We will protest it,” said state Labour and Employment Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick.

Dattatreya attributed the lesser number of insured persons in the State as the reason for dropping he plan. He, however, announced upgradation of the existing ESI hospital in the state capital. While a state has to have 4-6 lakh employees covered under ESI for a hospital to be set up, Odisha had just about 3.5 lakh, he had pointed out.

Mallick, however, said the State was one of the 13 venues for the ESIC’s medical college project in 2008. The then Union Minister for Labor and Employment Oscar Fernandes on March 2, 2014 had laid the foundation stone for an ESIC’s Medical College and Hospital here.

The minister said that the state government has already acquired around 13 of the 25-acre land allocated for the ESI Medical College and Hospital project. Besides, the government has spent Rs 13 crore for erecting boundary wall and developing the patch of land.

Fernandes, it may be noted, had announced the setting up of the 500-bed hospital on 25 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs 701 crore. The proposed hospital would have 100 MBBS seats in the first phase as per the guidelines of the Medical Council of India (MCI), he had said.

Stating that the State govenrment would certainly protest the centre’s stand in regard to the ESIC’s proposed medical college here, Mallick said if required the state might hit the streets on this issue.

The State government accordingly had identified 25 acres for the purpose near Jagannathpur, on the outskirts of the state capital City. The Medical College was proposed to have been operational from 2013-14.

However, the project was delayed due to a dispute over its location. While one section demanded to locate the ESIC medical college at Rourkela, others wanted to set it up in Bhubaneswar. Accordingly, a team of central government headed by then Union Secretary, Labour, had visited both the places in 2013 and selected Bhubaneswar as the venue for the proposed ESIC medical college.

At least Rs 12.5 crore had been spent to erect a boundary wall to protect the 25 acres of land from any encroachment. Considering the infrastructure availability, Labour ministry had favoured Bhubaneswar for ESIC Medical College, an official said.