The Greater Chennai Corporation has started work on developing a COVID-19 Care Centre on the premises of Anna University.
On Saturday, senior officials of Greater Chennai Corporation led by Deputy Commissioner (Works) Kumaravel Pandian visited Anna University and held talks with university authorities, who offered alternative buildings, including the auditorium.
The Corporation officials said they were planning to develop a Care Centre with at least 2,000 beds in the university premises for treating COVID-19 patients. At least 1.6 lakh sq.ft. of buildings in Anna University will be used for development.
The civic officials said they will take over the Centre of Intelligence, Knowledge Park and four hostel blocks.
“We will do it in cooperation with the university,” an official said.
Following the issuance of notice by the Corporation under the Disaster Management Act to hand over hostels for development of care centres, Anna University refused to hand them over hostel rooms of students and research scholars as they had left behind theses, research papers and materials, apart from their valuables in hostel rooms.
However, Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash said the District Disaster Management Authority has the powers under the Act to take over any building for disaster response. The Corporation would pack the valuables, videograph them and hand over the materials to the university. But the research scholars and students opposed the move to vacate the rooms in their absence as the risk of damage to valuable materials was high.
With a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city, the civic body has started strengthening COVID-19 Care Centres in various parts of the city.
Many universities and colleges have been taken over by the Corporation for this purpose.
