Odisha: State govt urges to provide 5-acre land for ESI hospital at Choudwar

BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has urged the Odisha government to provide five acre of land to set up an ESI Hospital at Choudwar in Cuttack district.
As the building of the existing Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) hospital in the town is very old and situated within the protected monument of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), it did not get permission for renovation.
The existing ESI hospital was established in 1960. Keeping the age of the building in mind, a structural audit of the building was conducted by the Odisha University of Technology and Research (OUTR) (formerly the College of Engineering and Technology Bhubaneswar).
Based on structural audit, dismantling of the existing ESI hospital building was recommended. However, ASI has denied issuing no objection certificate (NOC) for carrying out renovations as the hospital is within the protected monuments zone.
Later, the Odisha government had provided an alternative site consisting of five acres of land at Kanheipur village under Tangi-Choudwar tehsil for construction of the new hospital. “Though this site is outside the ASI protected monuments zone, it is situated at a distance of 11km from the existing hospital,” said Union minister of state for labour and employment Rameswar Teli while replying to a question of BJD MP Mahesh Sahoo in the Lok Sabha.
Teli said the Odisha government has been requested to provide five acre of land just outside the ASI protected area and closer to the existing ESI Hospital, Choudwar, because most of the insured persons reside in the vicinity of the existing hospital.
Parthasarathy Panda, director of regional office of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Odisha, said he has already discussed with officials of local tehsildar and the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) for land selection. “I will also discuss with the district collector for suitable land near the existing hospital,” he added.
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