Amid resistance, interim court orders, stone laid for Nandyal Medical College

Minister Jayaram honours people who gave their land for Adoni college

Amid stiff resistance from the farming community against building a medical college in 50 acres of the land belonging to 115-year-old Nandyal Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) and interim stay orders from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the foundation stone was laid for the construction of a government medical college in Nandyal on Monday. The foundation stone was laid for the ₹475-crore medical college outside the RARS premises in the Government Hospital honouring the High Court orders. At the simple function organised at Nandyal to witness the virtual foundation stone laying function, Nandyal MP Pocha Bhrahmananda Reddy, MLC Gangula Prabhakar Reddy, Panyam MLA Katasani Rambhupal Reddy, Allagadda MLA Jitendra Reddy, Nandyal MLA Silpa Ravi Chandra Kishore Reddy, Joint Collector Manzeer Jeelani, Nandyal Sub-Collector Kalpana Kumari, and others. People held a dharna at their own houses on a call given by the Rayalaseema Saagu Neeti Sadhana Samithi displaying placards and asking the State government to honour the sentiments of the farming community by not destroying the RARS land, which was serving as seed production station for several varieties of agriculture crops. “Developing such a research station and land will take more than 10 years at an alternative location, whereas 25 to 30 acres of land can be acquired anywhere around Nandyal by spending ₹50 crore as it has been done for the proposed Adoni Medical College,” said Samithi president Dasaratharami Reddy.