A railway medical college for Mysore still remains a dream as the proposal was hit by the lack of coordination among various government departments.
This inaction dashed the hopes of hundreds of Railway employees who dreamt of sending their children to the college. Though the Railway Board is responsible for implementing the plan, railway employees expressed their displeasure over the inordinate delay in completing the formalities.
The proposal was announced by then minister of railways Mamata Banerjee in the 2009-10 railway budget. Railways had decided to set up 14 medical colleges across the county, including Mysore. As per the proposal, South Western Railway (SWR) has to identify 25 acres to set up the college, but till date, they have identified only 18 acres at the Railway Workshop in Ashokapuram.
Though SWR officials have failed to provide the required land, they are planning to convince the Medical Council of India (MCI) to give permission for the construction of campus on the 18 acres which has been notified.
SWR Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Anup Dayanand Sadhu said that they are yet to receive the order from the headquarters. “But once we receive it, Expression of Interest (EoI) will be announced and construction will be taken up under Public Private Partnership (PPP),” he added.
Railway officials who want to complete the project at the earliest, say they will not allow the sanction to be either transferred or cancelled.
Mysore SWR Mazdoor Union branch secretary Venkatesh said that they would ask the Railway Board to start work at the earliest.