The encroached land on the premises of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Sachin

The Nalanda Medical College and Hospital administration has failed to take necessary action despite a week to go to submit a report regarding an anti-encroachment drive on its premises.

The deadline to submit the report is November 25 and according to sources, around 23 acres have been encroached upon out of the total 88.

In May 2011, Patna High Court had directed the state government to fence the health hub land within four months. However, the work was not completed owing to alleged lack of co-ordination among officials. In the last hearing regarding the matter, the high court asked the state government to file a status report by November 25 regarding the administration’s anti-encroachment drives at the six medical college hospitals.

On Saturday, chief secretary A.K. Sinha held a meeting with district magistrates and officials of the health department through video-conferencing, directing them to speed up the crusade.

Dr Shiv Kumari Prasad, the NMCH superintendent said: “There are around 700 buildings on the campus, of which around 610 are made of mud and the rest are pucca houses.” On whether she was happy with the efforts of the administration in removing encroachment from the hospital campus, Prasad refused to comment. Dr Santosh Kumar, the deputy superintendent, NMCH, said: “The administration also served notices on the defaulters many times but whenever the demolition was to be carried out, some problem cropped up. Sometimes the official didn’t come on the fixed date, while at other times the machines to be used for demolition couldn’t be brought to the site,” he said.

Patna district magistrate N. Saravana Kumar said the administration could not be blamed for the delay in the drive. “NMCH’s encroachment related cases are pending in courts. The matter is sub judice. Only after the cases are closed, can we go ahead with the drive on the NMCH land.”