Harish Rao seeks relocation of Maheshwaram medical college

BRS leader T Harish Rao has demanded that the Government Medical College at Maheshwaram be shifted to a building with adequate facilities within two months. He also sought immediate drinking water, toilets and transport for students protesting at Mangalpally.

Hyderabad: BRSLP deputy leader T Harish Rao demanded that the Congress government shift the Government Medical College at Maheshwaram to a building with adequate facilities within two months. He also sought immediate access to drinking water, toilets and transport for students, along with a written assurance on the relocation.

During his visit to the students’ protest camp at Mangalpally in Ibrahimpatnam constituency on Wednesday, where they had been staging a demonstration for three days, Harish Rao interacted with students and their parents. He also spoke to Rangareddy District Collector Narayana Reddy and Director of Medical Education (DME) Vani Devi over the phone, seeking immediate action.

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He demanded that the Collector and DME visit the protest site and issue a written assurance on shifting the college within two months to a government or rented building with all facilities, preferably near Vanasthalipuram or TIMS-LB Nagar. “Until then, buses should be operated up to the campus and students should be provided drinking water and toilets,” he said. He assured the students that the party would continue to support their agitation and raise the issue in the Assembly if the government failed to respond.

Speaking on the occasion, the former Health Minister said the college lacked basic facilities, including drinking water, functional washrooms, laboratories, a library and hostel accommodation. Students had to walk nearly two kilometres from the main road to reach the college, as buses were not allowed inside and they were barred from bringing their own vehicles. He accused the government of neglecting the institution for three years, leaving medical students to study in unsafe and inadequate premises.

Harish Rao said the government had not paid the building’s rent, electricity and water bills for the past 26 months. The owner had written to the authorities, stating that the dues had remained unpaid since the premises were taken over on August 1, 2024. He said the college building did not have an occupancy certificate, fire safety clearance or Pollution Control Board clearance. The principal had also written to the government in this regard but received no response, he said.

Questioning how a government medical college could function under such conditions, the BRSLP deputy leader asked Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha to explain the lapses. He contrasted the government’s proposed expenditure on projects such as the Musi Riverfront beautification project and Future City with its failure to clear the college’s basic utility bills.

Harish Rao recalled that the previous BRS government had sanctioned the college in 2022-23, provided 25 acres of government land and allocated Rs 182 crore for the college and hostel buildings. A 400-bed hospital was also sanctioned and its foundation stone laid. However, he said the Congress government had neither finalised a site nor invited tenders for the permanent campus in the last three years.

Former Minister and local MLA P Sabitha Indra Reddy, former MLA Manchireddy Kishan Reddy, BRS general secretary Kyama Mallesh and others were also present.