AMC takes busy road stretch into its fold for medical college

The building for this college is under construction,but it is not in a position to complete the land area requirement. A medical college must have 25 acres land either one piece or in two parts,of which one must be a minimum of 10 acres.

The AMC has a 15-acre plot in the Nikol area where it will house staff quarters and other facilities. This leaves it to show it has 10 more acres,but the hitch is that the L G Hospital complex is short of the minimum by some 1.5 acres. Unless it has 10 full acres,permission to start the college cannot be granted under Medical Council of India (MCI) norms. So,it decided to simply include the adjoining public road in the plot to make it 10 acres.

Already walls with high iron gates have come up to block access on both sides of the road,which connected Isanpur with Balvatika and the Kankaria Ring Road besides giving access to the hospital. This has resulted in an additional distance of one-and-a-half kilometres for vehicular traffic.

When asked how a road could be blocked in this fashion,a senior AMC official retorted,“What is more important? Do you need a road or a medical college in the area?” He said this was the only way to fulfil the requirements of the MCI,which is to visit the location to check if the college meets all norms.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Capt Dilip Kumar Mahajan also justified the inclusion of the road in the hospital premises. He said the road was originally part of the plot meant for the L G Hospital in the town planning scheme. “All we have done now is that we have taken that road back to the original plot,” he said. He added that otherwise the other premises would have to be set up in some far off area,making it difficult for all concerned to access it.

Curiously,the chairman of roads and buildings committee has not been involved in this exercise. The decision was taken using special powers of the standing committee chief and the municipal commissioner. Commissioner I P Gautam,however,said the whole road would not be blocked and that a portion would be available for public passage.