Plot given to a trust in 1999 by CIDCO for multispecialty hospital, but 20 years later, the ground plus four storey building remains unutilised
Navi Mumbai:Seawoods residents participated in a serial hunger strike to draw CIDCO’s attention over the non-utilization of a building constructed on a plot leased to a trust in 1999 for the purpose of having a multi-specialty hospital in the area.
Residents of Sector 48 A, comprising 48 multi storied buildings and nearly one lakh population, came out in large numbers on October 5 to participate in a serial hunger strike. A ground plus four storey building has been constructed, but lying unutilised for the last 24 years.
“The building was to have a multi-specialty hospital but has remained unoccupied for more than two decades. We fail to understand the reason for CIDCO failing to get this building commissioned,” said Anita Das, a resident.
The strike commenced from 10 am onwards on Thursday with residents taking turns in a gap of 4 hours to sit on hunger strike. Former corporator Vishal Dolas undertook the fast continuously till Friday 4 pm. “Since I represent the ward, I am aware of the seriousness of the issue. In fact during COVID, the residents experienced personal hardships with no access to a hospital nearby. The land was leased to a trust by CIDCO to construct the hospital. The trust has constructed the building, but for reasons unknown for many years, the infrastructure is lying unused,” said Dolas.
During the Covid period, the residents’ ire made several requests to the administration to commission a hospital. “Since the building has been lying vacant during COVID, we made multiple requests to let the premises be used for patients. The request was not entertained. As a result, in spite of a G Plus 4 building meant for hospital standing near us, we had to travel to Vashi and other areas to avail emergency treatment. Since then, it was decided that either the building should be made operational or the structure should be handed over to NMMC,” said Srikant Powar, another resident.
When contacted, an CIDCO official said the undertaking had issued a show cause notice to the trust in October 2020 and proposal to terminate the lease agreement with the concerned trust was sent recently to the higher authorities to decide. “Since the response to the show cause notice was not satisfactory, the proposal to terminate the agreement has been made and a final decision will be taken shortly,” said the official. MLA Ganesh Naik has assured the residents of getting the matter resolved at the earliest.
The strike was eventually called off on Friday at 4 pm after receiving assurance from both authorities and political leaders to look into the matter.
Source : Hindustan Times
