Telangana dithering on land for premier R&D centre

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy has asked Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to take steps to allocate land for establishing National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Hyderabad.

In a letter written to the Chief Minister on Monday, he said that the Centre had taken several steps to strengthen the medical research in the country. It had conveyed to the State government in 2019 to establish NCDC (earlier, known as National Institute of Communicable Diseases) in Hyderabad. He said that the Centre had already allocated funds for the same.

The Central medical and health department had sent proposals to the State government to allocate three acres of land needed for establishing the NCDC. As the State had given an in-principle nod, a team of central officials visited the State and held discussions on setting up the NCDC. The State government proposed some old buildings for the NCDC, but the visiting team conveyed that they were not fit enough. It asked the State government in 2019 to allocate three acres of land. However, till date there is no headway in the allotment of lands, he added.

The city already has premier institutions like NIN, CCMB, IICT and several other central research institutions. And, the NCDC would be further useful to the people of the State going through critical times due to Covid. He stressed the need for such institutions for the State, as it can facilitate medical research with linkages to government and private hospitals in the State.

The Minister urged KCR to take steps for the allocation of land for the proposed NCDC, and not let the funds lapse.