Chattogram Bureau :
A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on the Ministry of Railways has discussed where the alternatives could be if the proposed 500-bed hospital, medical college and nursing institute are not in the CRB area of the port city. In this case, it has been
suggested that it can be done in the area of Tuberculosis Hospital where the
railway is closed to it in Kumira of Sitakunda upazila.
The meeting, held in Dhaka on May 10, was attended by six members of the committee, including ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury MP, Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Railway Ministry.
ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury told The New Nation that the CRB was asked in the meeting of the parliamentary committee why various projects including hospital projects are not being implemented under PPP. If the hospital is not in the CRB then it is agreed to be implemented in the hospital area where the railway is closed in Sitakunda.
He said the hospital is needed for the people of Chattogram. If it is not in the CRB area, it may be elsewhere. It must be in the interest of Chattogram. For this reason, it has been suggested that the hospital could be built on the railway land in Kumira area. There 13 acres of land can be given for the hospital. According to sources in the Eastern Railway, the Tuberculosis Hospital in Kumira has been abandoned for decades. There are about 13 acres of unused land there. However, the matter will be finalised by the Prime Minister’s Office. Civil society, including heroic freedom-fighters and professionals, has been opposing the 500-bed hospital, 100-seat medical college and nursing institute project under PPP in CRB, which has become popular as a place for the martyrs to breathe in the natural environment. Protests have been going on every day for almost a year in the CRB’s proposed hospital project area.
