Centre gives nod for medical college on forest land in Ooty

Udhagamandalam: The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change gave clearance to construct the proposed medical college on 25 acres of forest land at Indu Nagar in the town last week.
With this, the next step for the medical college to come up is foundation laying ceremony for which a date has been awaited from the chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
“Tender has also been floated for the construction of the medical college.” collector J Innocent Divya said.
She said, “We are waiting for a date from the chief minister for the inaugural ceremony of laying foundation.”
Besides the 25 acres at Indu Nagar, another 15 acres of land is required for the construction of the college as more than one storey (ground+one) cannot be constructed in the Nilgiris as per the guidelines of Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA).
A piece of land extending to 15 acres, falling under the animal husbandry department and located adjacent to the existing 25 acres of forest land, has been identified for the purpose. A GO has already been issued to transfer the land from the animal husbandry department to the health department for the college.
“We are in the process of identifying a land of the same area as compensation to animal husbandry department,” Divya said.
To compensate for the diversion of the 25 acres of forest land, double the amount of land, say 50 acres, identified in Salem will be handed over to the forest department soon.
With a proposed budget of Rs 325 crore, the central government-sponsored scheme works with a ratio of 60:40; while the central government bears 60% of the total cost, the rest will be borne by the state government. It is proposed to have 150 seats in the upcoming Ooty medical college.