The Sarkari Zilla Mahila Mattu Makkala Aspatreya Ulavigagi Nagarikara Samiti will take out a procession and stage a dharna against the State government’s move to hand over 3.88 acres of land to a private entity to construct a 200-bed maternity hospital and a 400-bed super-specialty hospital, here on January 6.
The government had last year decided to hand over the land belonging to the District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital, where the hospital is presently functioning, to a private entity, BRS Health and Research Institute Pvt. Ltd. (BRSHRI), under on build-own operate and transfer basis under public-private participation mode to build and run the two hospitals.
As per the agreement, the private entity intends to provide medical facilities at the 200-bed maternity hospital free of cost and it will also build a 400-bed super-specialty hospital on the same land.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, P.V. Bhandary, convener of the samiti, said that the spacious land was located in the heart of the city just opposite the municipal office. It already housed the District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital.
The staff of the hospital was giving good treatment to both pregnant women and children since a long time. Besides, the land for the present District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital was donated by the philanthropist Haji Abdulla Saheb in 1929. In his deed of donation to the then government, he had made it clear that the land should not be used for commercial purpose.
Yet the government was handing over the land to the private entity for constructing a 400-bed super-specialty hospital to be run on commercial lines, he said.
“It defies logic that the State government has decided to hand over the prime land donated by a philanthropist to a private entity belonging to a NRI businessman without taking a single paisa from him,” he said.
Balakrishna Shetty, convener, said that the government had entered into an agreement with the private entity with undue haste and without transparency.
The samiti would take out a procession from Jodu Katte to Chittaranjan Circle and hold a public meeting at 4.30 p.m. on January 6, he said.
