Kerala to speed up Cochin Cancer Research Centre plan

KOCHI: Health additional chief secretary Rajeev Sadanandan has said that the state government is keen on implementing the Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) project and will take all steps to remove hurdles before it. Reacting to a report in this newspaper regarding hurdles from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) for the project, Mr Sadanadand said that “the state will take all steps to ensure that it gets the environmental clearance” and also gets KIIFB director board approval in February. The Government is serious about the project.”

Ernakulam District Collector and Special Officer of the Cochin Cancer Research Centre Muhammed Y Safirulla on Sunday confirmed that the CCRC project faces the threat of being derailed on account of lack of clearance from the SEIAA. “I have taken up the issue with the administrative unit of the authority the issue of sending the minutes of the sub-committee meeting to the next meeting of the committee scheduled on December 20 and 21 in Thiruvananthapuram. We had made changes to the CCRC project design as per SEIAA requirements and they were discussed in detail and presented before the sub-committee of the SEIAA on December 4 and were accepted. The minutes of the sub-committee are scheduled to reach by December 20,” Mr Safirulla said.

Mr Safirulla also said that if the meeting of the SEIAA fails to clear the CCRC project at its meeting on December 20 and 21, it will get delayed by a year. “I am intervening to avoid that and I am following it up,” the Special Officer added. He declined to comment whether the private hospital sector lobby was behind the hurdles being placed by a state government agency in the way of a state government project. Health sector sources said that the combined business of the private sector in cancer care in the three districts of Kottayam, Thrissur and Ernakulam came to Rs 800 crore annually.

Meanwhile the Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement spearheading the campaign to realize the CCRC, has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister and Health Minister expressing concern over the delay in giving  environmental  clearance  for  the  project by the SEIAA. The letter asks both Chief Minister and the Health Minister to remove the hurdle for the prestigious project in Central Kerala.