Bhubaneswar | April 5, 2016: Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), the public sector undertaking, today reiterated its commitment to set up a medical college and hospital in the state.
The medical college will come up at Talcher and start classes from 2019-20.
However, since it does not have the required expertise to run a medical college, the company is non-committal on whether it would run the college itself or hand it over to an expert group.
Reiterating Mahanadi Coalfields Limited's commitment for the development of the state after its board meeting here on the completion of 25 years of the organisation, MCL chairman A.K. Jha said: "The construction of the boundary wall for the college has already been completed. The admission process will start in due course."
All MCL directors - L.N. Mishra, J.P. Singh, A.K. Tiwari and K.K. Parida - were present when the MCL chairman shared his vision with the media about the company as well as its contribution to nation-making.
On being asked whether the MCL will run the medical college, Jha said: "A professional body should run the medical college and the MCL can bear all the expenses. A decision will be taken when the time comes."
The project work is scheduled to be completed in two-and-a-half years. The academic session will commence from 2019-20.
The MCL medical college will be a 100-seat medical college with a 500-bed modern hospital. It will come up on 20 acres in Talcher at a cost of Rs 499 crore.
Two public sector units - the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited's and the National Thermal Power Corporation - are about to set up medical colleges and hospitals in the state.
The other major public sector unit operating in the state, Nalco, is yet to take any decision on setting up a medical college-cum-hospital in Odisha.
The MCL chairman also said the company was spending nearly Rs 290 crore, nearly two per cent of its profits on CSR activities in Odisha.
"We are also contributing more than Rs 2,500 crore to the state exchequer and Rs 7,388 crore to the central exchequer," he said.
On the issue of chief minister Naveen Patnaik's demand to hand over the Baitarani East Coal Mine to the state-run Odisha Power Transmission Corporation instead of the Mahanadi Coalfields, he said: "All coal mines belong to the Centre. It is up to the Centre to take a call on this issue. We have nothing to say on this."
Jha made it clear that there would be no shortage of coal for producing power. "Coal India has set an ambitious target of producing one billion tonnes of coal by 2020. Our contribution will be around 250 million tonnes. We will be able to reach the target provided we receive all the required environment clearances," he said, adding that the company hoped to get all support from the state government in getting land to pursue the goals of rehabilitation and resettlement.
He made it clear that the company had plans to set up two power plants in the state, including one in Sundargarh. The work on these plants will start after it gets the coal linkage.
Jha said the company was working on the plan to evacuate coal from the mining areas.
"A dedicated railway network is also coming up for this purpose," he said.
(Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)