Kochi Cancer Centre still rests on a stone
A year after the stone laying, not a brick has been added to the project
KOCHI: Three cabinet meetings have taken place since a high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister on July 24 decided to fast-track the Kochi cancer centre project by availing of a Rs 450- crore loan from the Ernakulam District Co-operative Bank (DCB) and appointing a special officer for the project, but nothing has happened so far.
And with the first anniversary of the stone-laying for the project by the Chief Minister falls on Tuesday, what reverberates in the air is another promise by excise and fisheries minister K. Babu in his Independence Day speech at Kakkanad that the construction of the cancer centre will be started this year itself.
He said the technical issues connected with the project were being resolved. He also said that the outpatient department would soon start functioning.
However, on the negative side, not a brick has been added to the project on the first anniversary, though health minister V.S. Sivakumar announced a year ago at the ceremony that it was included in the Mission 676 project of the government to be completed before the Oommen Chandy government ends its term.
However, it is now certain that the project will not be completed during the present government’s tenure and the officials have removed the project from the Mission 676 website.
A Cabinet decision and government order sanctioning the loan from DCB and appointing the special officer from the IAS cadre are required for taking things forward.
“Mere statements from the ministers will not do. The Chief Minister himself attended the July 24 meeting and took the decision in this regard. Even after that no concrete step has been taken,” said Dr N.K. Sanil Kumar, a volunteer of the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Movement which is spearheading the agitation for the centre.
A society has to be formed in the name of the cancer centre for availing of the loan and the August 12 cabinet meeting was expected to take decision in this regard and also on appointing special officer. “It did not happen. Things cannot be dragged on like this. Concrete steps are needed,” said Dr Sanil Kumar.