Govt serious about retaining 100 IGGMC seats

If the efforts of the state government are any indication, this time the government appears serious about retaining the 100 seats of the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College (IGGMC). The government is trying its level best to keep the deadline of 18 months to complete the construction of the multi-utility building and a girls hostel as per the directions of the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court.

State Chief Secretary J P Dange took a review of the situation personally on Monday. He visited IGGMC and held a meeting of top officials and secretaries of medical education and research, public health department, public works department and urban development department. Speaking to TOI, Dange said that the government was committed to complete the job within the stipulated time as demanded by the court. "We have asked the PWD to prepare a six monthly progress plan of the buildings as required by the court. We would be filing an affidavit in the court in the next hearing. We are doing our best to remove all the bottlenecks," he said.

Sources, however, say that though medical education minister Vijay Kumar Gavit had laid the foundation stone of the multi-utility building in September, there has been little progress in the project until now. "The structural plan of the building got approved only a few days back when the work started. But now there is no hindrance," he said.

Earlier on September 22, the high court had directed the Medical Council of India ( MCI) to restore the 100 seats of the college while hearing a PIL filed by the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) and directed the state government to complete construction work within one month and submit the progress report to the court every six months. The next hearing is slated for Wednesday.

Although Dange is learnt to have directed the PWD and the medical education department to monitor the progress closely and submit a report to the government, he chose not to commit anything on the vertical expansion plan on BoT basis. Another PIL by January and Manch is also pending with the court on the issue. Sources however say that the government was planning a review of the entire BoT project afresh due to an increase in the FSI from 1.5 to 2.5 on Tuesday. They say that the authorities are planning to review the feasibility of the project based on the increased FSI and submit the same to the court on Wednesday. .

Principal secretary, medical education and research, Milind Mahiskar and director, medical education and research, Dr W B Tayade also attended the meeting.