Fadnavis’s Nagpur Municipality blocks the Central Health Department’s laboratory project

Twitter: @vivekbhavsar

Mumbai: The Union Health and Family Welfare Department wants to set up a National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) laboratory in the second capital city of Maharashtra. For this, the Centre had requested two acres of land owned by the state government from the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The health department of the state government also showed readiness to provide the land. But the NMC put a strange condition that the Centre pays up Rs 80 lakhs as property tax, then only the possession of the land will be given. Hence, the research laboratory in epidemic diseases is still on paper.

Nagpur is the home town of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Central Government’s laboratory could not be established in Maharashtra due to the strange condition put by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and its Town Planning Department. After the corona epidemic, the need to have a laboratory at vital locations became acute. Of course, the decision to set up a laboratory in Nagpur was taken on September 19, 2019 and not a single brick has been laid in the last three and a half years.

Also Read: Is it a ploy to make Mumbai as Union territory?

A state-of-the-art laboratory of the Union Health and Family Welfare Department is located in the capital Delhi. During the Corona pandemic, samples of suspected patients were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. In the meantime, some private organizations have been given the authority to inspect the samples. However, due to the burden of testing samples on other private laboratories, there was a need to set up a new government laboratory. This is why it was decided to set up a central state-of-the-art laboratory in Nagpur.

According to a senior official of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a decision was made to give a two-acre plot owned by the Deputy Director, Health Department of the State Government in Nagpur for the Central Laboratory. Before handing over this land in front of the Diksha Bhoomi to the Centre, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation made a condition that the Centre should pay the outstanding property tax of Rs 80 lakh and only then take possession of the land.

This official further said that actually the central government is going to set up the laboratory itself. For that, the Centre is asking for space on a long-term contract rather than funding from the state as a share of the state. It is expected that there should not be any burden on this place, the municipal taxes should not be overdue. The official expressed the opinion that it is the responsibility of the state government to release the land free of any encumbrances by paying the property tax.

The central government is going to set up a state-of-the-art laboratory in Nagpur by spending Rs. 16 crores. Rupees 2 crore have already been handed over to the Central Public Works Department as a token amount for construction of the building. The construction department has prepared the maps and submitted them to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation for approval. However, the municipal corporation has imposed a condition that the property tax should be paid first and then the maps will be approved. On the other hand, the Town Planning Department has ordered a deposit of Rs.2 lakh and four thousand to the Union Ministry of Health for the measurement of the land.

This officer further added that the Centre is continuously following up with the state government to set up the laboratory. Rajesh Bhushan (IAS), Secretary of this Department, corresponded with the Chief Secretary of the State on July 21, 2022, August 26, 2022 and October 6, 2022 and on December 2, 2022. However, as there is no response from the state government yet, there is a fear that the central fund of around Rs. 16 crores will get lapsed. The official commented that this will cause a huge loss to the state.