Tata Memorial to expand

Overriding opposition from some cabinet members and officials of Haffkine Biopharma, Maharashtra’s chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has cleared a proposal to give five acres of Haffkine land in Parel to the Tata Memorial Hospital at a nominal rent. Mumbai Mirror (MM) reported in its issue of June 14, 2012 that the cancer specialty hospital had sought a nearby plot belonging to Haffkine Biopharma to create a separate hospital for women and children which will provide Hadron Beam Therapy (radiation) using equipment worth Rs 450 crore.

With the market value of the land at about Rs 40,400 per sq m, the revenue department had suggested a rent of Rs 4,400 per sq m to be levied on Tata Memorial. But at a cabinet meeting on June 13, 2012 Chavan insisted that the rent should be nominal, pointing out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to provide the expensive machinery worth Rs 450 crore to the Hospital. MM reports that Prakash Sabde, Haffkine Biopharma’s managing director felt that "giving away its land would hurt the institute.”

The Afternoon Despatch and Courier (ADC) reported in its June 14, 2012 issue that the land, which belongs to the state government, will be given at a nominal cost for a period of 30 years, with a provision for renewal of the allotment every 30 years, as per information received from a government spokesperson. The Tata Memorial, which was opened in 1941, treats around three lakh patients each year. At present the Hospital has 700 beds, but with the setting up of the new section it will be able to extend its services to many more, ADC notes.