Will pay MHADA Rs 13 cr for plot; thereafter, planning, tender processes will begin; locals urge BMC to speed things up
Krantiveer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Hospital at Kannamwar Nagar in Vikhroli East in 2022. File pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally decided to pay R13.23 crore to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) for land for a hospital at Kannamwar Nagar in Vikhroli East.
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The civic body has decided to redevelop the 100-bed Krantiveer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Hospital into a 500-bed super-speciality hospital.
A BMC official told mid-day, “We received a letter from MHADA in March. They are demanding Rs 13.23 crore to grant a no-objection certificate to allow redevelopment. This includes the cost of land and other fees. We have decided to pay. The process will be completed soon. mid-day has often highlighted the issue of delay in hospital redevelopment.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Dr Sanjeev Kumar stated, “We have decided to redevelop the hospital. The process is unfolding.”
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Another official, meanwhile, said, “We have decided to use MHADA land that is adjacent to the existing hospital building at Kannamwar Nagar.”
The BMC closed the 100-bed hospital in 2018 as the building had been declared dilapidated. The facility was shifted to a maternity home in Tagore Nagar. However, it wasn’t operating at full capacity. In September 2022, Kannamwwar Nagar locals held a hunger strike over the lack of a hospital. At the time, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered the BMC to settle the dispute over the land for the hospital and start construction of the facility immediately.
Initially, a 100-bed hospital was to be built at the site. But the BMC later decided to set up a 500-bed super-speciality hospital instead.
“After the BMC makes the payment for the plot to the MHADA, the next process will start. We will prepare the plan and then start the tender process,’ an official stated. Dr Yogesh Bhalerao, a member of Amhi Vikhrolikar, the group which carried out the hunger strike, said the hospital could not be redeveloped in five years. “The BMC should complete all the administrative processes and start the redevelopment work soon,” he said.
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