Bhawanipatna: Even as the laying of the foundation stone for the establishment of a medical college at Bhangabari mouza near here is going to complete two years, the project has remained a nonstarter, a report said Sunday.
The foundation stone for the medical college was laid by the Chief Minister November 16, 2016 after the state government found itself in the dock following the infamous Dana Majhi episode.
Dana Majhi, a tribal of Melghara under T Rampur block in Kalahandi district, was noticed carrying the body of his wife on his shoulder to his village due to non-availability of a hearse.
His plight sparked a furore all over the state and hit the national and international headlines. Later, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for a medical college at Bhangabari mouza under Sadar block. Over 40 acres of land was allotted for the institution which was to be built at an initial plan outlay of Rs 100 crore by the Vedanta Group.
However, since then, not a single brick has been laid for the project. The ruling party tried to make good of the loss arising out of the Dana Majhi episode in the panchayat elections and announced to set up a medical college at Bhangabari.
The party tried its best to wrest control of all panchayats but still two of the Zilla Parishad seats went to Congress.
The medical college proposal came as fresh breather for the people in the area when they were sore over the closure of the Sardar Rajas Medical College at Jaring.
The district administration requested the state government to hand over 40 acre of land in Khata No 2 of Bhangabari mouza to the health department.
The Revenue Department had earlier handed over 80.08 acre of land in Bhangabari mouza for setting up a frozen semen bank to the veterinary department. But it used only 10 acres of land for the semen bank while 70 acres remained unused. The state government announced that 40 acres out of 70 acres of unused land would be provided for establishment of the medical college.
Former urban development minister Puspendra Singh Deo, attending the foundation stone laying ceremony, had announced that the admission to the college would start from 2018-19 academic session. However, nothing much has been done so far for setting up the college.
PNN
