KOCHI: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Monday ordered the state government to submit an action plan on the Kochi cancer centre project by August 25 while health minister V. S. Sivakumar assured to consider the funding plan of the Ernakulam District Co-operative Bank.
The Ernakulam DCB president N. P. Paulose said he would meet the minister in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and if he was interested, the DCB would finance the project.
The DCB demands a bank guarantee as in the case of the Kochi Metro Rail for financing the project.
SHRC chief Justice J. B. Koshy came down heavily on the attitude of the state government on the project saying it was interested only in laying foundation stones.
He made the remarks in response to the affidavit submitted by the chief secretary saying the state government was considering another detailed project report after studying that of the Malabar Cancer Centre, Thalassery, and Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
The current detailed project report was submitted by Union government-run HSSC Ltd, which has expertise in the field.
The SHRC intervened two weeks ago and asked the chief secretary to submit a status report on the project.
“It was the dream project of Justice V R Krishna Iyer. The number of people succumbing to cancer is on constant rise. So the Commission said the government has to submit a clear cut action plan on how it proposes to implement the project,” said T B Mini, the lawyer who impleaded in the case.
The chief secretary submitted before the SHRC that the additional chief secretary (finance) had informed him that the government did not have enough money to fund the project and hence was going for the annuity mode.
He also said that the government proposed to build a 300-bed cancer hospital-cum-research centre at a cost of Rs 450 crore.
“This shows the hollowness in the sincerity of the government on the issue. The health minister was initially evasive in his reply to V S Sunil Kumar MLA (who proposed the funding plan). In fact, none of the MLAs from Ernakulam district came up to raise the issue in the Assembly. Only when Sunil Kumar specifically pointed out the willingness of Ernakulam DCB to fund the project that the minister showed his willingness to hold a dialogue with DCB. However, it has to be seen how the whole thing progresses. The move of the government to prepare another detailed project report after HSCC has submitted a DPR smacks of dubious intentions,” said Dr N. K. Sunil Kumar, a volunteer of the Justice V R Krishna Iyer Movement.
