Amid a walkout from the Opposition, the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday passed a Bill that will enable the Congress government in the sta...
Amid a walkout from the Opposition, the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Thursday passed a Bill that will enable the Congress government in the state to acquire a private medical college in Durg district, PTI reported.
The move has courted controversy as the college has links with in-laws of the daughter of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The Opposition has also accused the Baghel-led Congress government of impropriety in valuating the cost to acquire the college, The Indian Express reported.
The Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College is currently owned by an unlisted private company called Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Hospital. The firm is headed by Director Mangal Prasad Chandrakar.
Mangal Prasad Chandrakar is the elder brother of Vijay Chandrakar, the father-in-law of Baghel’s daughter, Divya Baghel, according to the newspaper.
Chandulal Chandrakar himself was a five-term Congress MP from Durg. The Chandrakar community built the hospital to commemorate him after he died in 1995.
However, the Congress and the chief minister’s links with the hospital is not the only red flag in its acquisition process.
The Bill states that acquisition of the college will cost the state exchequer Rs 140 crore a year, which the Opposition has alleged, is double its actual valuation. The Bill justifies the amount suggesting that it was a “compulsory acquisition”.
The Statement of...
