Centre clears DDA proposal to allot land for beds & O2 plants

New Delhi: The Centre has approved a DDA proposal for the allotment of land on a temporary basis to hospitals and medical institutions in Delhi to set up COVID-related infrastructure, including additional beds and oxygen generation plants, officials said on Thursday.

According to a May 5 letter from DDA to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, it has been receiving requests for the last six to seven months from government agencies, private hospitals and charitable institutions for the temporary allotment of its land for the expansion of infrastructure to combat the COVID surge.

These include the Delhi government's request for the allotment of land near the GTB Hospital for establishing an ICU facility and the East Delhi district magistrate's request for the allotment of open ground at the CWG complex for setting up an oxygen generation plant, the letter stated.

The proposal for temporary land allotment was examined by the DDA in consultation with the finance and law departments. It was found that such allotments needed approval and relaxation of the Nazul Rules, 1981 by the central government.

The proposal was approved earlier by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who is also chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), they said.

The health infrastructure in Delhi has come under tremendous pressure during the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both government and private hospitals have had to ramp up facilities like oxygen plants and ICU beds to cope with the large number of serious patients requiring hospitalisation.

"The DDA had been receiving a lot of requests from hospitals for the allotment of land on a temporary basis to set up COVID-related infrastructure. The LG approved and recommended it. The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has approved the same," a senior officer said.

But even as the approval for the land use has now been granted, the beds and infrastructure being added in the city right now are more a cushion for a possible third wave than to deal with the current wave which is already showing signs of ebbing.

While the 500 ICU beds next to the GTB Hospital were initially delayed, they were partially operationalised on Wednesday. On the other hand, a 250-bed space in Dwarka's Indira Gandhi Hospital is yet to start full-fledged operations in light of a shortage of oxygen cylinders and concentrators.