WODC to sign fresh MoU for three Medical Colleges

Sambalpur, Mar 18 (UNI) The Western Orissa Development Council(WODC) will soon sign fresh MoUs for setting up of Medical Colleges in Kalahandi, Balangir and Rourkela.

A decision in this regard would be taken within a week, WODC outgoing Chairman Ainthu Sahu said here today.

He said the private parties interested to set up Medical Colleges would have to make an earlier deposit of Rs 50 lakhs as security deposit. The security clause had been incorporated as some private parties, who had earlier signed the MoUs backed out causing inordinate delay in setting up of the Medical Colleges.

Mr Sahu said the BJD-BJP government in the state was determined to have medical colleges in backward districts of Balangir and Kalahandi and steel city of Rourkela.

The WODC Chairman said since 1999, the council had received a total grant in aid of Rs 283.05 crores from the state government and executed 5,377 different projects under roads and communication, minor irrigation, construction of check dams, lift irrigation points, water supply schemes, infrastructure grants for schools and colleges, rural electrification and assistance to urban local bodies.

He said like the Gurkhaland Development Council, the WODC did not have its own engineering departments and mostly depend on the state government for which implementation of several projects had been delayed.

On the controversy over the establishment of the WODC headquarters, Mr Sahu said a place centrally located anywhere in Western Orissa would be the right choice. The WODC has also suggested the state government in this line, he added.

UNI XC DP BA/src1816