Bill to acquire medical college passed in C’garh

The Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College (Acquisition) Bill 2021 was passed by a voice vote after a debate in the assembly

The Chhattisgarh assembly on Thursday cleared a controversial bill to acquire a private medical college 50 km from state capital Raipur amid loud protests by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which alleged the Congres government signed off on a sweet deal with the college management to bail out the loss-making institution.

CM Bhupesh Baghel at Chhattisgarh in Raipur, Chhattisgarh (Arijit Sen/HT Photo)

The Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College (Acquisition) Bill 2021 was passed by a voice vote after a debate in the assembly where the Congress’ 70 members vastly outnumber the BJP’s 14 lawmakers. BJP legislators later walked out of the assembly, demanding that the government roll back the bill cleared by the assembly moments earlier.

Health minister TS Singhdeo, who piloted the bill in the assembly, said the acquisition of the college was a step towards providing health facilities to the poor and common people.

“This is the best option to start a government medical college in the state with limited resources,” Singhdeo told the assembly that it will annually cost the exchequer only ₹140 crore to run the college. He also countered claims by the BJP that the medical education regulator, the Medical Council of India, has cancelled the college’s recognition, and said the MCI has sanctioned 150 seats.

The medical college was set up in 2013 in memory of the veteran Congress leader Chandulal Chandrakar. The acquisition, however, turned controversial after it emerged that among those on the board of the medical college is a member of the joint family into which chief minister Bhupesh Baghel’s daughter is married.

During the two-hour-long debate on the bill, Congress leaders emphasised that the bill will not transfer the liabilities of the college but only provide for the acquisition of its assets.

The BJP, however, questioned section 8 of the bill that specified that the government would get an assessment of the college’s movable and immovable assets and then pay the owners, twice the assessed value.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly Dharamlal Kaushik said this did not stand to reason. “When the government is facing a financial crisis and has a debt of around ₹76,000 crores, an additional government expense of ₹140 crore is not logical. Secondly, why is the government is paying twice the amount of the valuation of the medical college through acquisition? This could lead to corruption which is also not logical,” Kaushik said.

Former chief minister Raman Singh said the government should have upgraded an existing 600-bed government hospital in Durg rather than acquiring a loss-making private medical college if the government wanted to expand health facilities. Singh said there was an attempt to sell the college in the past and litigation was still on to recover ₹35 crore paid to the owners in advance.

“The bill has been brought to ensure relief to directors from debts,” Singh.

Senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal said the bill is aimed at benefitting only some people. It is even against the interest of people who lent crores of rupees to the college and its employees.