Promised in ’17, Gurdaspur yet to get medical college

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, June 27

Despite Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s announcement in 2017 regarding a medical college and hospital to be established in Gurdaspur district, the project is yet to see the light of day.

Recent announcement by minister OP Soni that new medical colleges would come up in Malerkotla, Kapurthala, Mohali and Hoshiarpur has come as shock for Gurdaspur residents as they were expecting the same for the city too.

A month after Captain Amarinder’s proclamation, the election code of conduct for the 2017 Gurdaspur parliamentary bypoll kicked in following which the paperwork for the project got stalled. Soni’s announcement has come as the final nail in the coffin.

The college, along with the Kartarpur corridor, was expected to usher in all-round development in this border district. Now that the project has been given a quiet burial, residents say the Punjab Government should compensate them by way of ushering in some mega venture.

In the month-long window that separated the CM’s announcement and the poll code, some efforts were actually made by the district administration to select the site. Two sites were proposed. Files were sent to the MCI for approval but for some inexplicable reason these never came back.

Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Bajwa said: “Cities which do not expand, die. The same thing is going to happen to Gurdaspur if major projects are not brought in.”

Meanwhile, officials claim that lack of political will on the part of local Congress leaders acted as a catalyst in killing the venture.