Shillong Med College: Govt scraps pact with KPC Group

SHILLONG, April 12: The state government has scrapped its agreement, signed with Kolkata-based Kali Pradip Chaudhuri (KPC) Group for the construction of the Shillong Medical College under public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
Confirming this, Principal Secretary of the Health department, Sampath Kumar said on Tuesday that the decision was taken by the High Power Committee as the concessionaire was asking for amendments to the agreement.
“We are now going for a fresh expression of interest which will be taken up on a fast-track basis,” Kumar said.
The agreement with the KPC Group was signed in 2011-12 and later, the foundation stone for the proposed medical college was also laid on the premises of Reid Chest (TB) Hospital at Jhalupara.
However, just after all the hurdles were cleared for the implementation of the project, the government, in 2018, decided to shift the location to Umsawli in the New Shillong Township.
According to Kumar, the government wants to leverage the new NITI Aayog and the Department of Economic Affairs-supported scheme for the setting up of medical colleges on PPP mode.
Last year, a division bench of the High Court of Meghalaya had asked the government to seriously explore the possibility of setting up a medical college in the state to address the healthcare needs of the citizens.
Recently, BJP state president, Ernest Mawrie had asked the state government to reconsider its decision on scrapping the MoU signed with the Kolkata-based firm and construct the college at the original site – TB Hospital premises.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Tura Medical College is in progress. The project has got delayed due to various challenges.