Describing the recent announcement on setting up of ESI Medical College at Amaravati as a 'political decision', CITU State general secretary Ch. Narasinga Rao said that the Centre has taken the decision under pressure from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who wants all Central government institutions in Amaravati.

The ESI Commissioner from Delhi came to Vijayawada on September 16 and announced that the ESI Medical College would soon be established in Amaravati. A proposal was made in the past on setting up of a 500-bed ESI Hospital at Sheelanagar in Vizag and establishing an attached ESI Hospital. However, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu wanted the ESI Medical College to be set up in Amaravati, Mr. Narasinga Rao told a media conference here on Thursday (September 18).

Reiterating the demand for construction of the ESI Medical College in Vizag, the CITU State general secretary said that any attempt to shift it to Amaravati would be opposed tooth and nail. Protests would be staged all over the State to safeguard the interests of workers. There were 14 lakh ESI beneficiaries in Visakhapatnam and surrounding regions and the ESI Hospital at Sheelanagar was nearing completion. The Centre had contended that the State government had failed to provide the additional land required for construction of the 500-bed hospital at Sheelanagar, on the plea of non-availability of land, due to which the medical college proposal had to be shifted.

Alleging that the Mr. Chandrababu Naidu's obsession with Amaravati was leading to the neglect of North Andhra, Mr. Narasinga Rao said that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was already set up by the Centre at Mangalagiri. Visakhapatnam has the maximum number of industrial workers in the State and the decision to set up the ESI Medical College and Hospital at Amaravati was not a wise decision. The Medical College should be set up near the ESI Hospital under construction at Sheelanagar in Vizag.

The CITU leader recalled that Prasanta Nandi Chowdhury, who was then an ESIC Board member and CITU national vice president, had visited the site proposed for the ESI Medical College and hospital at Sheelanagar in January 2022, and had suggested that the medical college and hospital could be established within the 8.5 acres of land provided by the State government by going for vertical expansion.

CITU district general secretary RKSV Kumar and treasurer S. Jyothiswara Rao were present.

Centre shifting ESI Medical College from Vizag to Amaravati under pressure from CM, says CITU State general secretary