Balasore, July 28: An action committee, which has been spearheading agitation for establishment of a government medical college and hospital here, has decided to intensify its demonstrations from next month.

The committee has decided to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister after collecting signatures of at least five lakh people of the district. A meeting was held yesterday to chalk out the committee’s future strategies and it urged elected local representatives to exert pressure on both the state and the Centre.

“Although the state government has sent a proposal to the Centre for establishing medical colleges in four districts including Balasore, no response has yet come from the Centre. The agitation will thus be intensified to put pressure on the central government,” said Gouranga Panigrahi, convener of the action committee.

“We will wait for the Centre’s response till August 20. If no step is taken by then, we will visit each block and gram panchayat and seek the people’s support. After collecting five lakh signatures, we will send it to the Prime Minister,” he said.

Another member of the action committee, Manoj Nayak, said: “We apprehend that both the state and the Centre will forget the issue after the elections. Therefore, it has been decided to step up agitation till the goal is achieved.”

“The committee urges all MLAs and MPs to move to Delhi and pursue the long-standing issue of the district,” he said. The action committee has been leading the campaign for a government medical college for eight years now. Agitations and demonstrations were organised under the banner of the action committee demanding establishment of a medical college in Balasore.

The district administration had identified a patch of land measuring around 22 acres in Remuna after the state government had asked it to do so for setting up a government medical college.