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Punjab approves 3 more acres for medical college in Mohali’s Sector 81
Furthermore, the Punjab government has assured to provide an additional 25 acres for future expansion of the hospital at the same site
Over six months after the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) allotted 25-acre vacant land in Sector 81 to the medical education and research department (MERD) for the construction of a new medical college in December last year, the Punjab government has now approved three more acres for the college.
Furthermore, the government has assured to provide an additional 25 acres for future expansion of the hospital at the same site.
The construction of the new college will commence in September this year and is expected to be completed within the next 30 months.
The medical college, christened 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 in Phase 6, Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) and a training institute of the health department.
But in 2022, the Punjab government had mooted the proposal to relocate the medical college to Knowledge City in Sector 81.
Around 200 students, along with 108 interns, are already enrolled in the college. An additional 100 students will be joining the college next month, taking the total number of students to 300.
College’s director-principal Dr Bhavneet Bhatti said the state government had approved an additional three acres of land, taking the total area of the college to 28 acres. “The government has also pledged to provide an extra 25 acres for future expansion of the hospital. The necessary drawings are currently being prepared and the construction work is expected to begin in September this year, with completion expected within the next 30 months,” she added.
In April last year, the then health minister, Dr Vijay Singla, had mooted the proposal for a “better site” for the medical college. He had expressed displeasure over the existing site in Phase 6, saying that the 10-acre land available in the college’s vicinity was inadequate for its expansion 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.
In August last year, the Directorate of Research and Medical Education, Punjab, decided to shift the college to the land initially allocated for the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, in Sector 81, following which on August 13, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had directed GMADA to hand over 25-acre land to MERD for the college.
