GMADA allots 25 acres in Sector 81 for medical college

The medical college, Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Phase 6, Mohali, is affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.

Mohali The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has allotted 25-acre vacant land in Sector 81 to the medical education and research department (MERD) for construction of a new medical college.

Earlier this year, the Punjab government had mooted the proposal to relocate the newly set up medical college in Mohali to Knowledge City in Sector 81. (Representational Image/HT File)

Earlier this year, the Punjab government had mooted the proposal to relocate the newly set up medical college in Mohali to Knowledge City in Sector 81. Confirming the same, Amandeep Bansal, chief administrator, GMADA said the land was allotted to MERD free of cost after the state government’s nod.

The medical college, Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, Phase 6, Mohali, is affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. It was set up during the tenure of the previous Congress government in the building of the existing Mohali civil hospital, Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) and a training institute of the health department.

The directorate of research and medical education, Punjab, had in August decided that the college will be shifted to the land, which had initially been allotted to build the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institution of the department of science and technology, Government of India, in Sector 81. Incidentally, GMADA had allocated around 75-acre land to INST for a bio-technology park, of which the institute kept six acres and handed over the remaining back to GMADA.

In April, now sacked health minister Dr Vijay Singla had mooted the proposal for a “better site” for the medical college. He had expressed displeasure over the site selected, saying that the 10-acre land available in the college’s vicinity was not inadequate for expansion of the medical college in future.

Following this, a three-member committee of senior IAS officers had identified three sites for the college — at Jujhar Nagar, near Phase 6; Medicity in New Chandigarh and Sector 81, where the Punjab government had acquired 381 acres to set up Knowledge City in 2009.

The Jujhar Nagar site was selected at first and construction work was also initiated there. Later, the project was halted after the MERD authorities were not satisfied with the area, following which other sites were proposed.

Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences Society is the fourth government medical college in Punjab after Amritsar, Patiala, and Faridkot, and the first to come up in 48 years. The four government medical colleges, apart from private ones, offer around 1,500 seats across Punjab.

On August 13, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had directed GMADA to hand over 25-acre land to MERD for the medical college.