Flats to replace St George’s slum

With 3 new buildings coming up under SRA Scheme to replace the shanties on its compound, landscape of the state-run hospital is soon to change

Flats to replace St George's slum

With 3 new buildings coming up under SRA Scheme to replace the shanties on its compound, landscape of the state-run hospital is soon to change

For one of the city's oldest public hospitals, St George's on P D'mello Road in Fort may be a reasonable choice for a makeover.

But the sort of redevelopment it is undergoing has little to do with augmentation of hospital facilities than the rehab of the slum on its premises.

Ramgarh Cooperative Society that is the hub of 114 shanties squat on a 3,940-sqm plot of land inside the hospital's compound

Ramgarh Cooperative Society, the hub of 114 shanties that squat on a 3,940-sq m plot of land inside the hospital's compound, is undergoing reconstruction.

A small telephone exchange godown, which inadvertently forms part of the slum's scenery, will also go in for a makeover. The hutments are barely half a klick away from the hospital's main building.

The builder who has undertaken the project of razing the slum down and erecting three buildings in its place sought recourse to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) Scheme.

Sunil Sawant, owner of Noble enterprises, said, "We have got all the required permissions. I have been on the project since 2006. And finally, all the consents have been obtained, except for a few minor ones. I am hoping to begin the work soon, and within two years, I should be able to complete it and hand it over."

The new layout consists of a seven-storey building to be inhabited by the slum-dwellers, a separate structure for the telephone exchange godown, and another two-storey commercial edifice that the constructors plan to put up on the market for sale.

Though the slum inhabitants encroached upon the land inside the hospital compound, most of them are eligible for resettlement under the SRA Scheme because the land still belongs to the state government.

An aerial view of the shanties

Of the 114 shanties in the Ramgarh slum, 54 are qualified to get a compensatory house. The rest are ineligible.
Collector Chandrasekhar Oak said, "An SRA scheme can be implemented on government land if the shanties are qualified to get a house."
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And the shanties qualify for housing if they had begun the encroachment on government land before the year 1995.

No noise

The redevelopment, experts say, may not be a nuisance for the patients at the hospital. St George's gets nearly 600-700 patients everyday in the OPD, and has nearly 500 beds.

When the construction kicks off, it would produce no less than 80-90 decibels of noise on the premises. But being 500 m away, the noise would dissipate before it can reach the hospital's patients.
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"At any construction site, the average noise level reaches up to 80-90 db. Since this project is far from the hospital, it might not affect it," said Sumaira Abdul Ali of Awaaz, an environmental NGO.

Official speaks

St George's, on the other hand, had little concern to voice over what is happening in their backyard, since officials said they do not know of the redevelopment deal.

"I am not aware about any SRA project coming up within the compound of the hospital," said Dr Pravin Shingare, deputy director, Directorate of Medical Education and Research, under whose supervision the hospital is currently running.

Did you know?
St George's hospital was earlier known as European General Hospital as it catered only to European patients. There is also a special ward dedicated to seamen in the hospital. It was established by St George's hospital in the UK in pre-independent India.