Plea to set up ESIC hosp in Haridwar

The heads of industries from SIIDCUL Haridwar urged the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to ensure that the long-awaited ESIC Hospital meant to cater to the medical needs of those working in 600-odd industries in SIIDCUL is set up at the earliest. They said that the setting up of the hospital has been hanging fire for years despite the land to house it being allotted way back in 2011. The members    of Industrial Association along with the MLA from Ranipur Adesh Chauhan met the chief minister in Dehradun. They said that they have strongly pitched for the facility, citing the fact that the workers of around 600 industrial units under  SIIDCUL  which came up in 2005  have been  suffering with the State Government dithering over the facility. It is learnt that the heads of several industrial houses like Hero, HUL, JK Tyres, Cadilla Labs and ITC met the CM and apprised him of the several problems they are grappling with in running the units.

An industrialist requesting anonymity said that it is puzzling why the state government has been dragging its feet on the matter for years. “It is funny that despite two chief ministers having laid the foundation stone for the ESIC Hospital, the workers are still running to the private hospitals to be fleeced,” he said. Another of the industrialists who met the CM said that some of the empanelled hospitals like Metro and Bhuma Niketan are now refusing to treat the workers with huge bills to the tune of crores of rupees lying unpaid by the State Government.

Post-meeting, president, SIIDCUL Industrial Association who led the delegation, Arun Saraswat said, “It is sad that there is no ESIC Hospital in the industrial area though contribution from employees and employers are  being deposited on regular basis. Five acres of land was allotted for the construction of the hospital in 2011, but it is still pending.  However, the meeting with the CM  has yielded result as the CM  directed the Chief Secretary to find out the reason behind the  delay and also instructed him to release funds to the hospitals on a priority basis.”

As for the new proposal made by the CM for five hospitals to be empanelled for ESIC, the association members said that this is unfeasible as all these facilities are far away from the   industrial areas. “Five new hospitals, including Arogyam and Maxwell, have been proposed by the state government and we expressed our reservations since the workers can hardly go that far for emergency treatment,” said Saraswat.

The industrialists also told the CM that SIIDCUL levies 15 per cent transfer charges of land value, something which they termed huge and illogical with other states levying just two or three per cent. “The chief secretary has been instructed to find things from the other states and correct the anomaly,” said one of the industrialists who met CM. They also raised the issue of GST and said that the relief due to the eligible units is pending. They asked the CM to speed things up with the Centre holding the lack of response from the state government responsible for the delay. “CM informed us that the state government has submitted its reply on February 7. We now hope to get some relief,” said Saraswat.  

The local legislator Adesh Chauhan who accompanied the SIIDCUL delegation during the meeting with the CM said that the meeting proved positive as the CM has assured of steps to promptly  resolve  all the problems  the industrialists face. “He has given directions to the chief secretary on several matters in the midst of the meeting,” he said.