Punjab: New colleges in news, old projects in limbo

Punjab: The laying of the foundation stone of the fifth new medical college in Nawanshahr by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday led to a lot of uproar across the state, especially due to the lack of progress on the previous four projects, which have been stalled for more than three to five years. The four projects announced earlier include two in the Malwa region – Mastuana Sahib (Sangrur) and Malerkotla – and two in the Doaba region – Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. All four projects have failed to move forward, leading opposition leaders to criticise the government for focusing on new initiatives while existing ones remain incomplete. These projects were to be launched with a funding ratio of 60:40, with the Centre giving the major share. The AAP government had promised to set up 16 new medical colleges across Punjab to ensure that students wishing to pursue MBBS courses would not need to migrate to countries like Ukraine. The medical college project in Kapurthala, announced in 2019, has seen little progress. The college was to be constructed on 20 acres at the Civil Hospital at an estimated cost of Rs 428.69 crore and was announced during the 550th Prakash Parv of Sri Guru Nanak Dev. Kapurthala BJP leader Umesh Sharda criticised the CM, saying what he said during his speech on Sunday was a “white lie” in which Mann claimed to have laid the third foundation stone for a medical college in the Doaba region. Sharda said the CM never laid any foundation stone in Kapurthala, only coming for a brief interaction with officials in December 2023. Sharda also pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was originally scheduled to lay the foundation stone during a rally in Ferozepur in December 2021, but that rally was cancelled. He criticised the state government for not utilising Rs 70 crore released by the Centre in March 2020, which has not been utilised since then. The file related to the tender of the project to be released in July 2023 is stuck in the CM office, but no one knows about its status. The medical college project in Hoshiarpur, approved in January 2020, was to be built on 23 acres of land at a cost of Rs 320 crore. The Center had also released Rs 190 crore for this non-starting project.

CM Mann had announced to name this project after Shaheed Udham Singh, whose cost was said to be Rs 418.3 crore. Despite the tender being issued thrice, no response was received. Independent MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi Rana Inder Pratap raised concerns over the rising cost of these stalled projects during the recent assembly session. He urged the CM to start construction as soon as possible, warning that it would become even more challenging for the government to complete these projects in the future due to the rising cost of construction. The foundation stone of the Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences at Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur was laid by the CM in August 2022. Mann had announced that the project would include the construction of an academic block, as well as expanding the existing civil hospital in Sangrur from 220 to 360 beds. The project also included plans for a nursing school, hostels for both senior and junior girls and boys, and other facilities. For the minority medical college in Malerkotla, the Centre had agreed to contribute Rs 195 crore as its 60 per cent share. However, no work has started on any of these projects despite the foundation stone being laid for Malerkotla by former CM Captain Amarinder Singh in June 2021.