PUNE: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) pet project to start a medical college in the city named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee seems to have been postponed. The BJP had announced setting up the college near the Naidu Hospital and had allocated Rs 10 crore for the same in the 2017-18 budget. However, nothing substantial happened. Now the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration has decided to divert the allotted funds towards other works.
After the BJP came to power in the PMC, senior corporator Murlidhar Mohol had presented the first budget of Rs 5,912 crore in 2017-18. In this, the party had launched new schemes under the name of party stalwarts Pandit Deendayal Upadhayay Accident Insurance, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College and Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Senior Citizens Free Health Checkup, among others.
There has been a long-pending demand from the corporators to start PMC’s own medical college similar to B J Medical College, to take the burden off the state-run Sassoon General Hospital. After almost a year, the PMC managed to start Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Accident Insurance and Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Senior Citizens Free Health Checkup. However, the PMC has not failed to take any substantial steps for starting the college.
Then Standing Committee chairman Murlidhar Mohol admitted it was true that no steps were taken for starting the medical college project. “We have requested the administration to give a work order to the consultant to start detailed project report (DPR) work.”
As per PMC Health Department officials, the corporation passed a tender of appoint consultant to make Detailed Project Report (DPR) of medical college. However, the PMC has not yet given work order of starting work on DPR.
