MERD to get 25 acres of land from GMADA next week to set up Medical college in Mohali

The INR 300 crore medical college project was sanctioned in 2012 during the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) regime under central-state shared funding in the 60:40 ratio. Initially started with 100 MBBS seats, the institute will eventually be upgraded to 220 seats.

Medical Education and Research Department (MERD) is finally set to receive 25 acres of vacant land in Sector 81 from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) by end of next week for the construction of a medical college. Earlier this year, the proposal to relocate the newly set up medical college in Mohali was placed by the government of Punjab.

Affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, the college, Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Phase 6, Mohali, was set up during the tenure of the previous Congress government in the buildings of the existing Mohali civil hospital, Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) and a training institute of the health department.

The decision to shift the college to the recently allocated land was taken by the directorate of research and medical education, Punjab, in August. The land was allotted for the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institution of the department of science and technology, the government of India, in Sector 81.

The INR 300 crore medical college project was sanctioned in 2012 during the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) regime under central-state shared funding in the 60:40 ratio. Initially started with 100 MBBS seats, the institute will eventually be upgraded to 220 seats.

Notably, GMADA had allocated around 75 acres to INST for a biotechnology park. A senior official on the condition of anonymity told HT, “INST kept six acres of land and handed over the remaining back to GMADA. Punjab CM had on August 13 directed GMADA to hand over 25 acres of this land to MERD for the medical college.”

Confirming the same, Amandeep Bansal, CA, GMADA, said that the approval for handing over the 25 acres of land is in its final stage.

In April this year, now sacked health minister Dr Vijay Singla had mooted the proposal to have a “better” site for the medical college, citing lack of land for expansion. He had expressed displeasure over the site selection, stating that the 10-acre land available in the college’s vicinity was not adequate to expand it in the 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.

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