RTI response on ESIC Medical College in Orissa
December 14th, 2009
On 22nd October 2009 Prashant babu had filed an RTI with the following questions:
- What are the reasons for choosing Bhubaneshwar, Odisha as the location for ESIC Medical College and Hospital, when Rourkela and its nearby areas are having the largest number of ESIC Insured Persons (ESIC Employees)?
- On what ground Bolangir, Odisha was not considered as a location for the ESIC Medical College and Hospital?
- Whether Rourkela as a location for ESIC Medical College proposed by Govt. of Odisha? If so please specify the date of such porposal? Who had sent the proposal (Name of the person/officer)?
- If Rourkela was proposed, then on what ground it was not considered by ESIC for setting up the Medical College and Hospital?
He has now received the response. They are as follows:
- Govt. of Orissa has offered 25 acres of land at Bhubaneshwar for setting up medical college by ESI Corporation.
- There was no such proposal for consideration.
- Govt. of Orissa has not proposed Rourkela as a location for ESIC medical college.
- Not applicable.
Different people are interpreting this different ways. My interpretation is as follows:
- It is clear now that Orissa government plays a crucial role in deciding on the location of the ESIC medical college. The center may still say yes or no to a proposed location but it does not seem to have the power to propose a location on its own. This means the CM needs to be convinced. (That is why it was a big step to get the hint that the CM is now aware of the issue. However, it remains to be seen how accurate that information is.)
- Newspaper reports can not be trusted completely. From first hand experience I know that if there is a paper about X in the desk of a secretary some news papers have printed it as Orissa government has a proposal for X. There have been times where an email I sent to the government, which happen to lie in the desk of a secretary, has later appeared in the news papers as an Orissa government proposal whereas in reality my email printout probably went to some file (at best) or the dust bin. So my analysis is that somebody in Orissa government mentioned the name Balangir in the ESIC medical college context and it probably never made it out of the Orissa government; but regardless the newspapers printed about it. Its also possible that somebody on purpose gave wrong or misleading information to the media.
In any case, Prashant babu desreves thanks for using the RTI mechanism to get these answers. Now it is clear where the buck stops on this matter (the CM) and where the efforts should be concentrated on (the CM). With the reluctance of the Rourkela MLA and the Labor Minister to bring this issue to the CM, some other way to access the CM and convince him about Rourkela needs to be found.
Entry Filed under: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri- Khurda area (1),ESI Medical College,Rourkela-Rajgangpur area (2)
3 Writeup
1. Purna C. Mishra | December 15th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Chitta Babu,
Whether the Government or press spread a rumor or someone picked it as a news is inconsequential to ESIC. Basically based on RTI, the Government did not propose any location other than Bhubaneswar. Government as a guarantor for infrastructure in the context of India failed as it denied 60-70% of the ESI subscribers a fair chance to get a superior medical benefit which they pay for.
I do not think you disagree with what I just said. Now what could be done so that the injustice that has been made could be addressed? It looks exactly the same when GOI moved the IISER fron Bhubaneswar to Kolkata.
I am surprised the civil society who rightfully jumped to get NISER back in Bhubaneswar are so quiet this time? Health is the most important infrastucture issue.
I hope all like minded people will rise and fight for this just cause. I am all for a PIL and I hope some one takes the leadership to expose this fraudalent decision.
Regards,
–Purna
2. alok | December 15th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
This is just an example for the amount of fraud that is behind the state govt of Orissa.I have lost faith on the govt and especially Mr CM.No matter how true is this but still if its even 5 % i will blame the state govt and the CM.I had mentioned earlier that Orissa govt is maintaining double standards while alloting any damn institute or facaility at any place in Orissa other than BBSR-CUTTACK region.This is just an example.Its an eye opener and i can bet there are more such similar things to be discovered.Let the CM justify this unjustified move.If he cant i am sorry but all i can say he don’t even deserve to be the short listed in the recently concluded CNN awards.
3. Prashant K Sahoo | December 15th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
We have to wait until we receive another RTI report , which is from Govt. of Odisha to match with what we have received from Central Govt.
News paper have been picked up BOLANGIR news only after official released the information to the media. There is a verbal confirmation on this multiple times from both the sources.
PIL should be the last option.