Medical college compound wall construction may lead to a legal fight

Residents against blocking road while students cite criminal activities inside campus

September 21, 2021 12:09 am | Updated 12:09 am IST - Kozhikode

The Moozhikkal-Medical College Pipeline Road being prepared to pave the way for the construction of a compound wall for the medical college.

The Moozhikkal-Medical College Pipeline Road being prepared to pave the way for the construction of a compound wall for the medical college.

The dispute related to the construction of a compound wall for the Government Medical College Hospital may lead to a legal fight between students and the college authorities who are for it and a section of local residents who are against it.

Shawn Thomas, chairperson of the college students’ union, said on Monday evening that the construction was being blocked to protect the selfish interests of some people. There are at least 20 small roads in and around the campus, where all sorts of anti-social elements have a free run. Four criminal complaints related to assault against women have been registered in the nearby police station in the past one month. “The students’ union will take legal recourse against those who block the construction. It is condemnable that even people’s representatives are joining hands with anti-social elements who try to usurp government land,” Mr. Thomas added.

‘No proposal’

However, functionaries of the Moozhikkal-Medical College Pipeline Road Protection Committee told the media earlier in the day that they were not objecting to the construction of the compound wall, but the sealing of a road being used by hundreds of people every day for the past six decades. They said that the Moozhikkal-Medical College Pipeline Road, being used by people from Kakkodi, Kuruvattur, and Palath since the setting up of the institution in 1957 is being blocked now from near the Chemical Examination Lab.

Many students take the road to reach Medical College Campus School, Savio Higher Secondary School, and St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri. M.A. Johnson, general convener of the committee, said in a release that the Institute of Chest Diseases and the cancer treatment facility would not fall within the campus even after the construction of the compound wall.

He claimed that the road being blocked is part of the proposed 12-metre wide ring road that begins from Moozhikkal, passes by Kalandithazham and reaches Kovoor. As per the reply to a Right to Information Act query to the Public Works Department, there had been no proposal to block this road.

However, the college authorities claimed that the Kerala High Court on September 6 had dismissed the demands by a section of the residents for a special gate on the eastern side of the compound wall and another to have access to the Olympian Rahman Stadium. The committee functionaries said that if the people will be allowed to enter the medical college hospital through only one entrance, it could lead to traffic pile-up on adjacent roads. Patients in need of critical care may not reach the hospital on time, they added.

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