The Udaipur Development Authority (UDA) has cracked down upon GBH American Hospital premises at Bedwas after the issue related to unauthorised construction  gained momentum earlier this week.

A team from the UDA was despatched to the GBH premises on Wednesday, 24 July to seize the buildings that were  notified by the Ministry as unapproved construction. As soon as the team reached the hospital premises, students and staff from the hospital and medical college began protesting, The staff also warned that if the  UDA team takes any action, the staff will leave the patients in the hospital and come out.

As per latest reports from the premises, the  UDA team has seized the unapproved hostel building, and is yet to take action on the hospital building, as patients are there in the premises. A heavy police force has been deployed to maintain law and order during the seize activity.

Background

MLA from Udaipur Rural, Phool Singh Meena had raised the concern of illegal construction by GBH American Hospital at its Bedwas premises at the Rajasthan VIdhansabha some time back. Responding to his queries and concerns at the Assembly on Monday, 22 July, the Urban Development and Housing Minister of the state Government, Jhabar Singh Kharra said that the Ministry will take action on the complaint within 72 hours. Accordingly, a team from the UDA was sent to the hospital premises at Bedwas to commence the action, as compliance to the orders of the Ministry. Earlier, the Minister had said that a special committee headed by the the Chief Secretary will look into the issue of irregularities in the  construction.

As per a statement given by Meena to the media, Meena alleged that the Hospital has undertakend construction which was beyond the permitted limit. He also alleged that the hospital has not entered into any development activity in the region and CSR funds have not been deployed for the same. He further added that the hospital management had been alerted in the past, but they did not comply.

Hospital Management Perspective

The PRO of the GBH American Hospital, Bhabhuti Bhatt, in a statement to the media alleged that MLA Meena is on a personal vendetta against the GBH American Hospital. He said that two years back, a Data operator at the hospital, Chetan Meena was terminated from his services following a complain of theft. Chetan Meena is now the Personal Assistant of Phool Singh Meena. From the last two years, the MLA has been troubling the hospital management, Bhatt added. He further added that the nephew of Phool Singh, Himmat Meena has also been involved in extortion from the hospital and was very active during the Lok Sabha elections. He added that it was the first time in the last 50 years history of Rajasthan, that a medical college building is being seized. Bhatt also said that the college makes regular changes as per NMC norms. The company, Bhatt said, had filed a construction request in 2018 with the UIT (now UDA), which has yet not been sanctioned.Building by laws, he said if the UIT does not take action on a file for 3 months, the building is automatically considered approved.

Bijay Diwaker, the Operations Manager in his address to the media said that a 750 bed hospital has come under the radar due to a personal enmity of MLA Phool Singh Meena. The police and administration has sidelined all protocols and come to the hospital premises to seize the buildings at the behest of their political masters. He said that that the hospital is currently serving 670 in-house patients, of which 72 are in the ICU and on ventilator. He questioned whether the administration has any alternative arrangements in place for these patients. The administration has orders to seize four floors of the hospital, which houses major departments, viz. Cardiology, Radiology, Pathology, among others.  Diwaker, mandating the statements by the PRO, also confirmed that Himmat Meena, the nephew of Phool SIngh Meena had come to the hospital prior to the Lok Sabha elections, demanding Rs 10 Lakh as donation towards campaigning for the Lok Sabha Elections.