Shirur MP Amol Kolhe is hopeful that the Maharashtra government will clear Pune’s Indrayani Medicity project, proposed along the lines of Gurugram’s Medanta Medicity by the previous government.
“This is the need for the hour and requires a clear political vision. The lack of development in this project has been unfortunate but I am hopeful that Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will consider it,” the NCP legislator told The Indian Express.
Indrayani Medicity, which will have 24 multispeciality hospitals on one campus, was announced in the 2022-23 budget and then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said budgetary provisions had been made for the project. In the township, plots will be earmarked for each of the 24 hospitals and bids invited from global leaders to set them up.
The project was cleared after various internal approvals. The initial groundwork was done and a 295-acre plot near Vadu Tulapur was zeroed in on for the project. Efforts were underway to create a special purpose vehicle to execute the plan and make a presentation before the chief minister for his final approval.
According to sources in the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority, four or five land sites were identified as per the health department’s requirements. While the basic infrastructure cost was estimated at Rs 100 crore, a top officer at Mantralaya said that it was an opportunity to attract high-quality investment from top hospitals across the country as the aim was to ensure end-to-end services from the primary to superspeciality levels.
With the change in the government, however, the project is yet to take off. When contacted, Kolhe, who had proposed the project, termed the lack of development as “unfortunate”. The Opposition MP said the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted that the hospital infrastructure available was already fully leveraged and that there was a need for more hospital beds. Pune is a major centre for healthcare for people of the Pune and Marathwada divisions, southern districts of the Nashik division and parts of the Belgaum division of Karnataka, he added.
