New building for OGH: High Court pulls Telangana govt for dilly-dallying

Hyderabad: The High Court bench directed the Telangana government to take a decision as to whether the existing structures within the complex of Osmania General Hospital required to be razed and one fresh construction required to be undertaken or whether the Medical and Health department would be inclined to retain the existing structure and similarly take up a new construction within a period of six weeks and inform the same to the court.

When Advocate General BS Prasad informed the bench that the Telangana government had not yet taken a decision on the issue of construction of new building to house the Osmania General Hospital, Chief Justice Hima Kohli asked for how long the government would continue to take a decision on the issue?

"Your (Telangana government) action is so casual and the AG continues to communicate the assurances of government to the court. The Telangana government does not believe in taking decisions on time and if that be so, this court will pass an order directing it to take a decision on this issue," observed CJ Hima Kohli.

The Chief Justice further expressed serious displeasure at the government which despite being issued orders on several occasions, failed to furnish the site plan of OGH along with the Google plan.

The bench adjourned the batch of 5 PILs after six weeks directing the Telangana government to take a final decision and share the blueprint of the site plan along with Google map of the hospital complex thereof with the court and file an affidavit to this effect.

The Court was hearing a batch of 5 Public Interest litigations filed by various petitioners seeking a direction to the Telangana government to construct a new multi-storeyed building for housing the Osmania General Hospital with all super-speciality facilities in place of existing old dilapidated building.