BMC demolition squad razes illegal constructions at the site of the proposed hospital at Mancheswar in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 9: Bulldozers were today pressed into action to raze structures that impeded construction of a multispecialty hospital at Gadhakan in the city.

The city management authorities today evicted around 25 families and demolished their illegally constructed concrete houses built on the plot of land meant for the project.

This 250-bed proposed hospital would be built on a five-acre plot in front of the Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL) guesthouse.

Residents of Mancheswar, Sainik School area, Vani Vihar, Nandankanan, Raghunathpur, Patia, Damana, Veer Surendra Sai Nagar, Sailashri Vihar, Niladri Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, Gadhakan and Jayadev Vihar would benefit from this hospital instead of having to go to Capital Hospital.

Officials of the general administration department, owner of the government land, said that after the eviction drive was over, the land would be handed over to the corporation for the project.

Some people had encroached on a portion of the plot near the stadium. The encroachers did not oppose the eviction drive but alleged that they had purchased these plot from some people several years ago and did not know that it belonged to the government.

It was found that some of the encroachers had constructed their houses under Rajiv Awas Yojana and had got electricity and water connection.

“I had purchased the land from a person here around 30 years ago. These officials, instead of giving us any notice, just demolished my house,” said Golam Keshar Khan, one of the residents, who produced some official documents.

However, Bhubaneswar Development Authority enforcement officer Deba Prasad Dash said since they had encroached on government land, they were not served any prior notice following the decision of the government. “If a hospital comes up here, lakhs of people in the area will benefit. We will demolish all the structures that have come up illegally,” said Dash.

Sources said the hospital would be constructed in a public-private-partnership (PPP) mode with International Finance Corporation, a sister concern of the World Bank, being an advisor to the project.

In February last year, the corporation had passed a resolution about establishing the multi-disciplinary hospital in Gadhakan and in March first week, the civic body had signed an MoU with the International Finance Corporation as the transaction advisor to the project. Though the general administration department had handed over the land to the corporation, the later had not got complete possession.

Sources said the hospital project would need an investment of more than Rs 100 crore and either the French government or the Asian Development Bank would provide the money. The agency is yet to be chosen.