Bhubaneswar, May 28: The proposed state-of-the-art postgraduate medical college at Capital Hospital, which was scheduled to start classes from this year, remains a far cry as the government continues to sit on the project for four years.

The then health minister Damodar Rout had in 2013 mooted the idea of the medical college on Capital Hospital premises and Rs 82.62 crore was sanctioned for the purpose.

In 2015, the then health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak had set 2017 as the deadline for completion of the medical college and starting of classes. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had also asked officials to ensure that classes began from the 2017-2018 academic session.

But, four years after the proposal, the project has not moved an inch as land required for the medical college remains to be acquired. Of the 25 acres required, 20 acres are available on the Capital Hospital premises.

The administration, however, needs to acquire five acres for the project outside the hospital premises at Ganga Nagar. The problem lies in the existence of two slums and a government quarters on the five acres.

While deciding on the project, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) were given the job to evict the slums, while the general administration department was to relocate the government quarters.

Last month, the joint eviction team of the BDA and the BMC finally decided to launch the demolition drive after four years of the project's announcement. However, the team had to step back in the face of stiff opposition from the slum dwellers.

"We had issued prior notice to the slum dwellers to vacate the place before we went for the raze drive. Yet, they did not pay heed to the notice. When we went there with bulldozers last month, but faced stiff opposition from the slum residents," said BDA liaison officer Subhransu Sekhar Mohanty. Mohanty, however, had no answer as to why the agencies took so long to carry out the eviction drive. Now, the BDA is planning to seek police help to evict the encroachers.

"We wanted to conduct the eviction drive peacefully and tried to convince the slum dwellers about the need for the medical college. But since they did not relent, now we have no option but to use force. We are planning to launch another eviction drive there shortly," said Mohanty.

The general administration department is also yet to start relocating the inhabitants of the government quarters.

A source in the health department said that the estimated project cost for the medical college had doubled in these four years. "There has been inordinate delay in implementing the project and the cost has now shot up to Rs 160 crore," said the official who did not want to be named.

He hoped that the eviction squad and the general administration department would expedite the demolition and relocation processes. "We will float a national tender soon. We hope to complete the tendering process in three months. But, the eviction squad will have to do their job first," said the official.

The proposed medical college will have postgraduate courses in medicine, surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics, pathology, anaesthesiology, radiology and paediatrics. There will be 26 seats for each course.

City doctors have expressed dismay over the project's delay.

"The authorities have been grossly irresponsible in handling the project. A government medical college has been a long-standing requirement of the city. The government should immediately remove all stumbling blocks in the project's path," said physician Sambit Acharya.