Odisha HRD

A turning point on ESIC Rourkela effort? – 4 Congress MPs including Hemanada Biswal request the PM for ESIC medical college in Rourkela

Update: Pioneer also writes about this.

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

First Published : 23 Nov 2009 04:16:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 23 Nov 2009 09:17:24 AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: Four senior Congress MPs from Western Orissa have demanded establishment of the proposed ESIC medical college and hospital at Rourkela in Sundargarh district instead of near the Capital for which the State Government is insisting on.

Though the maximum number of industrial and mine workers reside in the area which is tribal dominated, it has been neglected in the health sector since Independence, the four MPs said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The four MPs, former chief minister Hemananda Biswal, former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das, former minister Amarnath Pradhan and Sanjay Bhoi, said that the area includes border districts and industrial belt of Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Bargarh and Sambalpur. Out of the 2.4 lakh ESI insured persons in the State, 1.4 lakh are from this area, they said and added that the first public sector integrated steel plant was established at Rourkela in 1955.

… While the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is going to be set up near Bhubaneswar, another medical recommended by the Human Resource Development Ministry will be set up in the coastal district. Besides, another medical college recommended by the Ministry of Railways will be established at Bhubaneswar. Two more medical colleges have been recommended to be set up Koraput and Talcher. Bhubaneswar city also has three private medical colleges and hospitals, they said.

This could be the turning point on this movement. Thank you MPs for finally doing this; better late than never.

The above report has a new piece of information in the last paragraph that I have underlined. I wonder what that refers to.

25 comments November 23rd, 2009

Mass Rally for ESIC Medical College in Rourkela on the 21st of November

Update: See News coverage of the rally at http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-rkl-mass-media-coverage/. Pioneer also reports on it at http://dailypioneer.com/217502/Demand-for-ESIC-college-in-Rourkela-gets-stronger.html.

Update: From today’s Dharitri.

Following is from http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-rkl-movement-intensified-again/.

1 comment November 20th, 2009

Making Rourkela a Tier II city of India – HRD and other development of Rourkela (work in progress)

Update: See also https://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4308.

Rourkela is the second largest metropolitan area of Orissa with an official metropolitan population of 550,668 but perhaps much more (at least 700 K) if one takes into account nearby places like Biramitrapur and Rajgangpur. It is probably the most cosmopolitan area of Orissa. Because of its steel plant it has world-wide name recognition. It has a lot of young talents; I am told that Rourkela youngsters have done much better in entrance exams like IIT JEE than from other parts of Orissa. Rourkela and the Sundergarh district have produced many national hockey players (both male and female), some of whom have gone on to captain the Indian national side.

Being an important station in the Mumbai-Howrah line, Rourkela is very well connected to both. The National Institute of Technology at Rourkela is often ranked among the top 5 NITs of the country; in recent years it has done much better and is in the process of starting a business program. Rourkela also has two private engineering colleges and at least one more is in the works. Rourkela has at least two good magament schools: Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (sometimes ranked nationally) and Indian Institute of Production Management, Kansbahal.  

Overall, Rourkela has the potential to be a Tier II city of India at the level of Vizag, Chandigarh, etc. But unfortunately, that has not happened so far and active organized efforts need to  be made to achieve that.

So here I will list some of the things that should be pursued so that Rourkela becomes a Tier II city of India.

Knowledge and HRD aspects:

• Metropolitan University: Rourkela is perhaps the largest metropolitan area of the country, or may be the whole world which does not have a general university. This needs to be rectified at the earliest. IMHO, the best model to follow would be of Delhi University. So a Rourkela Metropolitan University should be established  with graduate programs as well as with a few constituent colleges spread (offering Bachelors as well as Masters degrees) across the metropolitan area, but with no affiliated colleges. The exisiting government colleges in Rourkela (Govt. College, Rourkela; SG Women’s, Rourkela and Rourkela College) would be made constituents of this university.
• Medical College: Although a WODC sponsored PPP-based medical college is in the works, we must continue pursuing an ESIC medical college here. SAIL, which is making a medical college in Bokaro, should also be pushed to establish a medical college here.
• BPUT: BPUT must become fully operational from Rourkela.It  needs to have real departments and centers and offer its own courses. It should be expanded to have programs in Science and Humanities.
• Research Centers: The state should pursue one of the central government departments such as CSIR, DAE, Sc & Tech, etc. to open a research center in Rourkela.
• Centrally funded University: At some point a centrally funded university should be pursued for Rourkela.
• More private institutions: Rourkela has the population base and the amenities that metropolitan areas offer to have more private institutions such as engineering colleges, management institutions etc. A multi-pronged apporoach should be taken.
  • Local big industries should be cajoled to participate in this. For example, SAIL is also planning an engineering college in Bokaro. They should be pushed to have one in Rourkela.
  • Local people should also open private institutions on their own.
  • Educational foundations inside and outside state that have developed good private institutions should be approached and invited to open institutions in Rourkela. Inside Orissa, institutions like Silicon and NIST should be approached. 
• STP: The STP at Rourkela should be expanded.
• IT/BPO: Because of the cosmopolitan nature of Rourkela, it would be a good place for BPO and call center operations. This should be pursued.
• Sports Institute/University: Sundergrah district is considered by many to be the Hockey cradle of India, both in men’s and women’s hockey. It has produced both Men’s and Women’s hockey team captains in Dilip Tirkey and Jyoti Sunita Kullu. Orissa government should pursue to establish a National Sports Institute (of the kind in Patiala) in Rourkela. It should include programs in physical training, coach training, official training etc. This would specially contribute  in the enhancing the employment opportunities for Adivasis who constitute 50.74% of Sundergarh’s population.

Connectivity Aspects:

• Rail Connectivity -Trains: While the connectivity to Mumbai and Kolkata is marvelous, connectivity to other places needs improvement. Dilip has a good list of new trains needed for Rourkela at http://rourkelarail.wetpaint.com/page/DEMANDS. This list is:
  • Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express( Day Time)
  • Rourkela-Berhampur Gajapati Express
  • Rourkela-Secundarabad/Hyderabad Express
  • Trains to New Delhi from Bhubaneswar via Rourkela OR Rourkela-Nizamuddin/New Delhi Express (Any extension of Ranchi-Hatia or Tatanagar trains will also work)
  • Trains to Patna and Eastern U.P.
• Rail Connectivity-Others: The Talcher-Bimlagarh line must be fast-tracked.
• Roads: The 4-laning of the state highway 10 connecting Sambalpur and Rourkela must be expedited.
• Air Connectivity: Rourkela airport must be made functional with commercial flights at the earliest.

Metro area:

• A larger metropolitan area for Rourkela that includes Kansbahal and Rajgangpur in the west and Biramitrapur in the North must be formally established.
• The state government should pursue Rourkela to be included in JNNURM.

(The above is from Google Maps.)

(The above is from "sarini: Occasional papers, No. 4, Adivasis of Rourkela")

Work in Progress…

43 comments November 15th, 2009

Push for ESIC medical college in Rourkela continues

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer. (A similar version also appears in tathya.in)

Leading non-resident Odia (NRO) Sandip Dasverma continues to bat for an ESI Medical College at Rourkela, though the State Government has turned a blind eye to the demand of the people of the steel city. Thanks to the alleged poor leadership of Rourkela, MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak, who is the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, the demand has not been heeded by the Government. However, justifying his stand, Dasverma has come out with a detailed memo to the Government.

Dasverma says that Odisha’s development should take into account development of all regions of the State. But such a thought process is sadly missing, for which Rourkela as location of an ESI Medical College is being ignored. And this has resulted in regional resentment and regionalism, warned he.

He says Rourkela should have been recommended for the first ESI Medical College rather than the second by the State Government, as recently reported in the media. With Bhubaneswar being the destination of nine other medical colleges, one more would not mean much to the capital city whereas it would certainly matter a lot for Rourkela, which has none, he argues.

Dasverma further adds that Rourkela has the main concentration of Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Insured persons, which is about 60 per cent, while the other 40 per cent live in and around Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Rourkela should, therefore, get the priority as location of an ESI Medical College and Hospital, he strongly feels.

He points out that people of four districts, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Jharsugda and Sambalpur would benefit due to an ESI Medical College and Hospital at Rourkela. Some more insured persons of the contiguous State of Jharkhand would also be benefitted.

He says Rourkela is the heart of Odisha’s tribal north-west and dotted with dirty mining industries.

The following two pieces appear in Sambada and Dainik Bhaskar. They have been obtained from http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-odia-samaja-odisa-development-teams-official-press-release/.

November 13th, 2009

RVS Group to set up medical college in Balangir; MOU to be signed soon

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given green signal for the RVS Educational Trust to set up the proposed medical college and hospital in Balangir. Approving the recommendations of a high-level committee, he has asked the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) to go ahead with an MoU for the purpose.

… Coimbatore-based RVS Group of Institutions, led by Dr KV Kuppusamy, is managing 87 educational institutions in the country. … The WODC had invited expression of interest for the medical college and hospital in Balangir last year in view of Shree Balaji Education and Charitable Trust backing out of the project.

The RVS Group would invest at least Rs 100 crore, while the WODC would provide a Rs 10-crore grant and 25 acres of land in Balangir. The medical college would have an intake capacity of 100 with a 300-bed hospital at its initial stage. Subsequently it would be enhanced to a 500-bed hospital and gradually to a 1,000-bed super speciality hospital, said sources in the WODC.

4 comments November 8th, 2009

Effort continues for ESIC medical college in Rourkela

The following two reports from Dharitri and Samaja are obtained from http://www.odiasamaja.org/more-media-coverage-esic-medical-college/.

From Dharitri:

From Samaja:

2 comments October 23rd, 2009

Progress in the right direction on the ESIC Rourkela front; but things need to move fast

The following is from Samaja e-paper. (Sambada also reports on this.)

I think the situation is clear. All the biggies from Rourkela, including MLA and minister from Rourkela Mr. Sarada Nayak, are now publicly united on this. The Orissa government does not seem to have any opposition except that they don’t want to lose it out of Orissa. So what is needed is an indication from the center that they do not mind having it in Rourkela. However, such an indication needs to come very soon as other reports still mention about progress with respect to the Bhubaneswar location. (See also this report in expressbuzz.com.)

1 comment October 14th, 2009

All party meeting on ESIC medical college in Rourkela: Samaja

New Indian Express also reports on it; Tathya.in has yet another report on it; Pioneer also has another report on it.

(Thanks to Prasant Sahoo for the item below.)

The good part of this report is that BJD MLA Subrat Tarai chaired the meeting.

1 comment October 10th, 2009

ESIC Medical college in Rourkela; latest news

Update: Various trade unions and local organizations in Rourkela have signed a joint memorandum. The details are at:  http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-trade-unions-variour-organizations-support/. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Hundreds of e-mails reached the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) urging him to impress upon the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) for establishment of the college and hospital in the steel city. The Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Labour were flooded with mails and memorandums. Bur it seems nobody in the Government is bothered about the hue and cry raised by the people from various sections of the society.

“If there is any place fit for an ESIC Medical College & Hospital, it is Rourkela,” said a top Orissa Government official. Then how come the Government is silent over the demand and has allowed the ESIC to set up the college and hospital in Bhubaneswar? “You better ask the Chief Minister,” said the officer on the condition of anonymity. Now, as the ESIC has been allotted land on the outskirts of the capital city, chances of Rourkela seem remote, admitted the official.

Interestingly, when the people of Rourkela joined the bandwagon for demanding the medical college and hospital in the steel city, local MLA Sarada Prasad Nayak, who is the Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Welfare remained silent. Similarly, Minister for Labour and Employment Puspendra Singh Deo, who also hails from Western Orissa, quietly favoured the college to come up in Bhubaneswar.

The ESIC will spend Rs 600 crore for the medical college and hospital, a dental college and a nursing college in the same campus, said sources. Officials point out that as there is no full-fledged airport near Rourkela, the Centre will not agree to setting up of a medical college there.

The mention about Rourkela not having airport and hence center may not agree is bogus. I don’t see any connection betweem an airport and an ESIC medical college. Indeed two other locations where ESIC medical colleges are being established do not have a nearby airport either. They are Gulbarga, Karnataka and Alwar, Rajasthan. (Thanks to Prashant babu for pointing to  the second one.)

5 comments October 5th, 2009

Some National Institutions/Universities and their locations; planning for the future in Orissa

Update on 27th April 2011: The Central University location has been changed to Bander Sindri near Ajmer and only 80 kms from Jaipur. The Innovation University (previsouly referred to as National University) aiming for world class is now pushed for Jaipur. [Times of India].

Tathya.in has a report that mentions some official saying that because of the lack of an airport in Rourkela central government will not agree to have ESIC medical college in Rourkela. I think this is a completely frivolous argument; I don’t see much connection between an ESIC medical college and an airport. (Often airport is a codeword for adequate infrastructure. If that is the case Rourkela indeed has the infrastructure for an ESIC medical college.)

However, in regards to certain centrally funded institutions, such a requirement is in the background and mentioned by journalists, even if they may not be spelled out explicitly. So while pushing for an ESIC medical college in Rourkela, we should set our target to push for more functioning airports as a next action item. Following is a more detailed analysis.

Given below are the locations of some national institutions and some related attributes. It is easy to see that for the locations of IITs, IIMs and National Universities being near (say within 120 kms or 2 hrs) an operational airport has been an important factor. For national universities, in addition being in a large (1 million plus metropolitan area) area with other research institutes has also been spelled out as an important criteria and it is reflected in the locations that are picked.  

On the other hand, the newly established central universities are in towns of all sizes and the locations of the NITs are mixed. The next level centrally funded but locally focused technological institutes, SLIET, Longowal, ABAGKC IET, Malda and Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar are on purpose established in rural areas and smaller towns. Unlike the NITs these institutions take only local students and also have programs focused on local needs. Nevertheless, their quality need not be bad. For example, SLIET is considered quite good.

Looking to the future following are some points relevant to Orissa.

• For Orissa to have future central institutions like IIM, SPA, etc. to be in a location outside of Bhubaneswar, Orissa must push for the quick establishment of airports and other infrastructure in other parts of the state. For example, the airports in Jharsuguda and Rourkela are the closest to be operational and they should  have scheduled flights at the earliest. Otherwise new centrally funded institutions may again be established near Bhubaneswar and crying hoarse after the fact may not be productive.
• Similarly the knowledge commission has proposed the establishment of 50 national universities in the long run. Considering that the education budget significantly increases from one 5 yr plan to the next, I would not be surprised if there is another set of them made during the 12th plan. Orissa must be prepared for that and by that time (there is a short window) have other areas in Orissa with adequate infrastructure that are being deemed necessary for a national university.
• Orissa must take advantage of the industrial and investment interests in Orissa, mostly due to its minerals, and develop metropolitan areas with larger population base. Currently the local people are creating roadblocks rather than helping in such development.
• In 2010 we should do our best to convince the planning commission, the PM and MHRD that the 12th plan (starting 2012) should include more centrally funded institutions of the kind that can be located in rural or semi-urban areas. In particular,
  • A centrally funded but locally focused technological institute (like SLIET) in all states. The one in Orissa could be located in Kalahandi or Balangir, the other two KBK districts that lack centrally funded institutions.
  • Two regional universities in each major states that are funded 50-50 by the state and the center. (This would be better than one centrally funded institute.)
  • Multiple branches of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in districts with high tribal population.
     

The NITs.

The IITs. 

National Universities

New Central Universities

IIMs

October 4th, 2009

Rourkela citizens make organized effort to get ESIC medical college

Following is an excerpt from a report in Expressbuzz.com.

The Orissa unit of CITU with support from mainstream political parties has renewed the demand to set up the proposed medical college and hospital (MCH) of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) at Rourkela. An action committee formed today at an all-party meeting resolved to put pressure on the State Government to pave way for locating the MCH at Rourkela having high concentration of ESIC insured persons (IPs).

… Led by Orissa unit CITU general secretary Bishnu Mohanty, the meeting pointed out that of the 2.4 lakh IPs across Orissa, the industrial and mining district of Sundargarh along with adjacent Keonjhar, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts account for 1.4 lakh IPs. Hence, there is no justification in locating the MCH in Bhubaneswar which has a number of MCHs and super specialty hospitals, the meeting observed.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Resentment is growing among the Rourkelites, with the Government’s decision of setting up an ESIC Medical College and Hospital in Bhubaneswar. Irrespective of party affiliations, a forum has come up to pursue Naveen Patnaik to relocate the ESIC Medical College here.

On this issue, an all-party meeting was convened in the district committee office of CITU on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Rourkela Press Club president Muralidhar Parija. Among others, CITU State general secretary Bishnu Mohanty, former Rourkela Congress MLA Pravat Mohapatra, Rourkela BJD president Ananda Mohanty, former Rourkela Municipal chairman and president Rourkela Bar Association Ramesh Bal, CPI(M) Sundargarh district committee secretary Banamali Dhupal, CITU leaders Biman Maity, Jahangir Ali, CPI leaders Pravat Mishra, Pradyosh Mohanty, SK Chakraborty, HMS leader Arun Parida, senior journalist AP Biswal spoke on the occasion and expressed their solidarity in their demand for ESIC Hospital.

Following is from Samaja. (Thanks to http://www.odiasamaja.org/ for the pointer.)

Following is from Dharitri. (Thanks to http://www.odiasamaja.org/ for the pointer.)

Following is from Dainik Bhaskar. (Thanks to http://www.odiasamaja.org/ for the pointer.)

October 2nd, 2009

Sundergarh MP and Labour Committee Chair Hemananda Biswal goes to Delhi to bat for ESIC Medical College in Rourkela

Update on Oct 1 2009: Pioneer has a nice article on the ESIC Medical College in Rourkela theme.

Following appeared in Sambada. Thanks to http://www.odiasamaja.org for the image.

See http://www.odiasamaja.org/esic-medical-college-rkl-press-conference-report/ for a press conference that happened yesterday. Some of us participated by phone.

2 comments September 30th, 2009

NIT Rourkela must follow NIT Warangal and go for a medical school and law school

Following is an excerpt from an IANS story by Prashant Nanda that we found in a report in thaiinidan.com.

… “We will retain our original name (NIT-Warangal) but it will become an integrated university with both medical and legal education among other programmes beyond engineering and technology.

“We will also provide postgraduate courses in humanities, business economics, biotechnology and many others. The focus will gradually shift to from under-graduation to post-graduation and research,” Rao explained.

NIT Warangal is the first among the NITs. It was dedicated to the nation by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru way back in 1959. Then it was known a regional engineering college. The institute is older than many IITs, including IIT-Delhi.

… The director said the institute, which started its journey with a little over 100 students from a temporary campus, now boasts of 4,200 students. In 2006, the institute had 2,000 students of which 1,600 were pursuing B.Tech courses and the rest M.Tech.

“While all the central government institutes are implementing the OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota in three years, we did it at one go. With an increase in the number of seats, we have shifted our focus to post-graduation and research. Out of 4,200 students, currently 1,400 are M.Tech students and 300 are PhD scholars,” Rao added.

Like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, NIT-Warangal will become an integrated university and provide all kinds of courses to students to help the country move forward in the field of higher education, he said.

“The process of becoming a university will start from the coming academic session but it may take a few years to become a full-fledged one. We are targeting 5,000 students by 2011 and 15,000 by 2015,” Rao said, elaborating on his mega plan.

“We are planning to have the school of medical science next year. We are going to give emphasis on biotechnology and microbiology and here the school of medical science will help us grow in both research and innovation.”

NIT Roukela has recently started a program in Biotechnology and is about to start MBA. But it must go beyond and pursue a medical school. 

3 comments September 29th, 2009

Land for ESI medical college has been alloted at Bharatpur near IMA in Bhubaneswar. What Next? How to go about getting an ESI medical college to Rourkela?

Following is from Samaja.

Sambada pinpoints the location as "near Institute of Mathematics & Applications."

Overall the only new part here is the exact location of the land as when we started our campaign for ESIC medical college in Rourkela (in the end of August) we already knew  that land had been allocated in Bhubaneswar. 

So what do we do now?

Following are my suggestions.

1. We need to continue pushing our case through emails, faxes, letter writing campaigns, ground level actions etc.
2. We need to get the MLAs from the Rourkela area involved. They need to meet the CM and make the demands. Alternatively or in addition some civil society group needs to get an appointment with the CM and convey the demand for an ESI medical college in Rourkela.
3. The MLAs around Rourkela and email/phone of some of them that I could find are:
   1. Rourkela – Sarada Nayak (BJD) sarada59@rediffmail.com
   2. Biramitrapur – George Tirkey (Independent) 0674-403599; 0661-643282
   3. Raghunathpali – Subrat Tarai (BJD)
   4. Rajgangpur – Gregory Minz (Congress)
   5. Bonai – Bhimsen Choudhury (BJP)
   6. Sundergarh – Jogesh Singh (Congress)
   7. Talsara – Dr. Prafulla Majhi (Congress)
   8. Kuchinda – Rajendra Chhatria (Congress)

   The MP and ex-MP who can also meet the CM are:

   1. Hemanada Biswal – 09937350289
   2. Jual Oram – jualoram@rediffmail.com, jualoram@hotmail.com
4. When these groups meet the CM they also need to have alternative proposals and an alternative set of demands. (This is in case the CM’s first response is that the land has been allotted and it can not be shifted at this stage.) Shifting of location once announced is extremely difficulty and a political hot potato. That is because if something is shifted from location A to B there will be people in A who will complain and no politician would want to do this. When A is Bhubaneswar it is even harder. (I also think that demanding shifting is not a good idea unless it is done by people of A. That is because it unnecessarily pits people of A against people of B.  We on purpose never did it in case of NISER or IIT and as a result received political support from MPs and journalists of other states.)
5. However, asking for an ESI medical college in Rourkela does not necessarily mean shifting the one announced in Bhubaneswar. The people meeting the CM, and at some point in our campaign, we should more forcefully point out that in other states in addition to the undergraduate medical college of ESI, 1 or more other locations will have post-graduate courses and in Karnataka there will be two ESI medical colleges. If we are able to convince this to our CM and if he demands to the center that ESI establish another medical college in Rourkela or at least PG teaching at its hospital in and around Rourkela then the chances of success are much high. But this need not be done now. We may continue with our current approach (with less badmouthing of Bhubaneswar) for some time. In this I suggest the approach and tone in here rather than the tone in the petition.
6. Whether it is demanding something from the center or getting something for a region in Orissa, getting the CM on our side is most important. From past experience the best approach for getting something for a region in Orissa has been for a delegation of MLAs to meet the CM. Hence the list of MLAs above.
7. With respect to fighting for Rourkela this should be just a beginning. The MLA delegation when they meet the CM should also ask the CM for
   1. a general state university and
   2. to push SAIL to establish a medical college and a engineering college, as it is doing in Bokaro. There are some technical hurdles but effort is on to overcome them. SAIL is up for its mine renewal in Orissa. See here and here. So this is the right time to do it. If SAIL Bokaro can make a medical college in Bokaro why can not SAIL Rourkela in Rourkela.
   3. These could be the alternative proposals that the delegation can propose to the CM.

10 comments September 20th, 2009

Movement to bring ESIC Medical College to Rourkela

September 19, 2009: Nice coverage in Khabara; From http://www.odiasamaja.org/wp-content/uploads/esi.jpg.

September 12-13, 2009: My friend Purna Mishra has written another nice email to the CM and MP Mr. Khuntia. Following is his letter.

Dear Esteemed Chief Minister Mr. Patnaik and Member of Parliament Mr. Khuntia,

From what I hear you both have been working at the opportunity to bring the ESI Medical College to Rourkela and get it funded at the earliest. I thank you for your vision and desire to make Orissa one of the leading states.

Even states with fewer employees in their ESI pool have already started the construction project (e.g., Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, etc.). Since the employees pay for their medical care, ESI is going to establish a medical college in Orissa as this is the ESI mandate.

In my last email, I mentioned a few benefits it would bring if this medical college is established in Rourkela. I found a much bigger benefit to Orissa if this medical college is established in Rourkela. The Phase-I construction cost alone is close to 500 crores. These are the cost of tenders over the last couple of years for the following ESI medical colleges:

1. Patna: 520 Crores
2. New Delhi: 617.87 Crores
3. Bangalore: 490 Crores
4. Dental Medical College, Mumbai: 158 Crores

The tenders for Kerala, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh will be at least 450 crores each.

In this down economy where the central and state governments are giving incentives for private and public investments in local economy, let us see how an cash investment of 500+ crores in construction alone over a 2 year period will jump start the economy of north western Orissa. As most of the economists agree, the investment in construction sector brings the most help for local economy. Last time Rourkela received a serious investment was during the modernization drive where a capitalization of 5000 crores for expansion was made. But most of this investment were spent in acquiring
machineries and did not bring any direct investment to support the local economy. Even the second modernization scheme announced in 2005 for RSP was only 350 crores and again most of that investment was made to acquire
machineries. This will be for the first time in several decades that Rourkela and the north western Orissa would be receiving a investment of 500+ crores in local economy. Please do your best to bring this jumbo sized investment at your earliest. In this down economy this jumbo investment will jump start the local economic growth engine.

We need to build another city in Orissa that could complement Bhubaneswar as we make Orissa one of the leading states in India. The only other city that has this potential at this time is Rourkela.

The people of Orissa who will immensely benefit and will be eternally thankful for you standing up to the ESI babus and do what is right for Orissa.

With my best regards,

— Purna

September 11, 2009: Today’s Pioneer has a long article on this. (Thanks to Prashant Sahoo for the pointer.) Looks like a lot of organizations in Rourkela are now involved. But we should not rest easy until the demand is met. Following is an excerpt from that article.

It is learnt from sources that people from different walks of life have been sending e-mails to the Orissa Chief Minister requesting him to consider the relocation of the proposed ESIC Medical College. In the latest development, many Non-Resident Oriyas (NROs) are not only writing e-mails to the CM but also they are in regular touch with various civil society organisations of Rourkela to strengthen the drive into a people’s movement.

Many retired and working professors of NIT and other leading educational institutions of Rourkela like Prof Somanath Mishra, Prof SK Patel, Prof KC Patra, Prof DM Praharaj, Prof P Panda, Prof P Mallick and many others have come out openly to write letters to the CM along with pursuing others to join the movement. Even they have urged the people’s representatives of the district to take up the matter with the CM. Similarly, many civil society organisations like Disha, Envicare, Visstar, Ores, Cause, Sahayata, Basti Unnayan Samiti and many other groups have joined this drive.

Unlike others, many journalists like Pratap Padhee, Subrat Choudhury, Aurobinda Das, Sanjib Nayak, Mahendra Mishra, AP Biswal, KP Mohapatra and writers and columnists like Narayan Prasad Dash, Bhupen Mohapatra, Debendra Mohanty, KC Badjena, Bishnupriya Mohapatra and Arta Trana Mohapatra have also joined the drive. Similarly, many trade unions like RMS, SETU, RSS, SEAR, KISS, ILU, RWU, SMS and students’ organisations like SFI, AISF, ABVP, DSO and NSUI have also started campaign on their respective level. Even many student leaders have started signature campaign in their respective campuses.

September 10, 2009:

Dear all:

Following is an update on the efforts towards bringing ESIC Medical College to Rourkela.

• Lots of emails have been sent to the CM’s office.
• Among the media, Tathya.in and Pioneer have covered it.
• The email campaign is active in several groups. (myodisa, ornet, agamiorissa, nis-iiser etc.)
• An explicit yahoo group Rourkela Forum has been formed. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rourkelaforum/
• An e-petition has been created http://www.petitiononline.com/ESI4RKLA/petition.html.
• MP Ram Khuntia has been contacted by phone and email.
• To avoid this topic to get buried under other newer topics in Orissalinks, I have put it in the scrolling bar as well as put it prominently in red in the right hand side bar towards the top. Clicking any of those links will bring it to this article and people can comment on it. Instead of creating new posts I will just update this post.
• Members of Myodisa are in the process of sending a memorandum to the CM.
• Orissa Society of the Americas is also in the process of sending a memorandum to the CM.

Next Steps:

• Continue emails, faxes, letters.
• Get more and more people to join the movement and join the Rourkela Forum yahoo group.
• Do some ground action in Rourkela.
• Contact MP Hemanada Biswal as soon as possible.
• Get more media coverage.

15 comments September 10th, 2009

Purna Mishra’s well-argued appeal to the CM about establishing ESIC medical college in Rourkela

Dear Esteemed Chief Minister Mr. Patnaik and Member of Parliament Mr. Khuntia,

I am writing this note to plead before you the need to have the ESI medical college in Rourkela. ESI administration has made an easy decision and you both know from your long public career that easy decisions are not always the best decisions. If we look at the existing ESI medical colleges there are many which are not locate in the state capital. The decision in the last 2-3 years to have the ESI medical College in Himachal Pradesh to be located in Mandi (150 km from Shimla) could be a basis for arguing why this ESI medical college for Orissa could not be located in Rourklela?

Here are the reasons I believe why thi ESI medical should be located in Rourkela instead of Bhubaneswar:

1. Orissa has close to 50+ ESI medical clinics and a half dozen or so medical hospitals. These ESI clinics are the Tier-III medical facilities where the patients go initially for the consultation. Based on the severity of their cases, they are referred to the Tier-II ESI medical hospitals. Most  of these Tier-II ESI medical hospitals are located closer to Rourkela than Bhubaneswar. Based on the numbers of members and their usage pattern, one could easily see most of these members live in places closer to Rourkela
than Bhubaneswar.

2. When these ESI members travel to these medical hospitals, the out of pocket allowance they receive from ESI is meager. So it would be an additional hardship for these members to travel to Bhubaneswar at a greater distance and a costlier city for specialty medical care.

3. Since most of the Tier-II medical facilities are located closer to Rourkela, it would be a boon for the ESI doctors working in these hospitals to get additional training and the patients could be referred for additional diagnostics (CAT scan, MRI scan, Ultrasound, advanced blood works) and thus improving the decision making if the medical college to be located closer to the existing hospitals.

4. Most of these members live in the geographical segment of Orissa that is under the evil grip of the growing Sickle Cell disease and cerebral malaria. Both these medical challenges require quick access to specialty medical care which could be provided if these patients travel to the specialty medical closer to their home which again makes Rourkela a more ideal location.

5. ESI would be spending 600 crores to build and run this medical college. Orissa should not lose this investment. Also 50% of the seats would be reserved for students from the domiciled state which would again benefit our children if we get this medical college in Orissa.

6. The state has to give a contiguous cluster of 35 acres of land for this ESI medical college at no cost to ESI. This kind of land would cost close to at least 10 crores an acre in Bhubaneswar whereas it would cost no more than a crore in Rourkela. From a pure selfish perspective, why not we give 35 crores (35 acres in Rourkela) rather than 350 crores (35 acres in Bhubaneswar) to get this investment of 600 crores from ESI.

We are looking up to you to work across the party lines to get this beneficial scheme for Orissa. To have this medical college in Rourkela would significantly improve the health of the growing workforce and thus bring in additional investments for Orissa. We know you both could make this happen and the ESI members would be eternally thankful to you for your leadership.

With my best regards,

Purna
ps – Originally from Bhubaneswar but currently lives in North America

1 comment September 6th, 2009