TURA: Garo Hills NGOs have raised strong objections to the ongoing collection of parking fees on the premises of the Tura Civil Hospital and blamed West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi for allegedly encouraging such a practice at the cost of the patients and their families.
The Deputy Commissioner, who had previously been in the eye of the storm for allegedly allowing a self-proclaimed women’s group to take into their ‘care’ a group of young women who were later tortured on allegations of running a flesh trade, has been blamed for the current situation.
The A’chik Youth Welfare Organization (AYWO) and the Association for Democracy and Empowerment (ADE) has accused Bakshi of allowing the collection of toll fees for parking of vehicles inside the hospital compound.
“The Deputy Commissioner is the chairman of the Tura Civil Hospital Management Society and as such he is the responsible person since decisions cannot pass without his consent. It is unbecoming of him to encourage such illegal collection of fees,” stated the two NGOs in a joint communiqué.
The pink parking slip of the Hospital states the list of toll to be collected for various vehicles with cars and three wheelers being charged ten rupees, two wheelers Rs 5, sumo and pick up mini trucks Rs 30, and buses Rs 100 among others.
Villagers bringing the sick from the interior areas on public taxis and having to stay the night in the vehicle inside the hospital premises will now have to pay up for using the space of the institute, alleged the NGOs.
“Besides looking after the patient and having to incur expenses for medicines the poor villagers now have an additional burden to pay for using the parking space of the hospital which is highly unjustified,” said AYWO president Adinson Ch Momin.
“This is probably the only place in the world where people have to pay for using the parking space of a hospital and it is nothing short of daylight extortion from suffering patients,” added ADE president Dalseng Bira Momin.
The two NGOs have threatened to mobilize public support and agitate against the decision of the hospital authorities to charge parking fees and have demanded the immediate halt to the practice.
They are also demanding that the collected toll should be reimbursed to the public on production of the pink hospital slip which was given at the time of the fee collection.
