Land cleared for pre-fabricated Covid-19 hospital

MIDPU, May 21: The Papum Pare district administration on Thursday cleared the area for construction of a pre-fabricated Covid-19 hospital near the mental health hospital here.
As per reports, a portion of the area, which is a government land near the mental health hospital, has been earmarked to set up a dedicated Covid-19 hospital.
The state government recently announced to construct this hospital in order to ease the burden on the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences.
In order to speed up the work, it was decided to construct a pre-fabricated building.
Talking to reporters, Papum Pare DC Pige Ligu informed that “no eviction drive has been conducted and only the jungle area was cleared on the government land to make way to set up a Covid-19 hospital.”
“I make it very clear that we are only using the government land and there is no case of eviction drive. However, some locals had tried to obstruct the work but the police have cleared it. No case was lodged,” the DC said.
The area where the government is going to set up a dedicated Covid-19 hospital was originally allotted to the mental health hospital.
In 1988, the state government had acquired 52 acres of land for setting up the mental health hospital at Midpu, and compensation was also paid to the land owners. However, it is alleged that over the years the land was encroached upon. Challenging the matter, the land owners are believed to have knocked the door of the court.