Uttarakhand HC orders new vet hospital in Dehradun

The Uttarakhand High Court Wednesday directed the Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority to construct a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital in Dehradun in two years or give the required money to the state to build it.

A division bench of the high court, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Tiwari, gave the order on a PIL, which said the MDDA had demolished over 100-year-old veterinary hospital in the city in 2008 to construct a shopping mall.

The court directed the MDDA to either construct the state-of-the-art veterinary hospital at Transport Nagar, Dehradun, within a period of two years or to release a sum of Rs 12.24 crore to the state for the construction of the same, petitioner's advocate Dharmendra Bharthwal said.

The Animal Husbandry Department had a District Veterinary Hospital at Dispensary Road in the heart of Dehradun town, just about 100 metres away from the Clock Tower, he said.

The hospital was constructed in 1890 on 16 bighas of land. Close to two hundred animals were treated there per day. The MDDA had demolished the hospital in 2008 to construct the mall, Bharatwal said. The said hospital was shifted to four adjoining shops nearby, he added.

Thereafter, on February 28, 2008, a decision was taken in the board meeting of the MDDA to allot one acre of land and Rs 3 crore for the construction of a new building of the veterinary hospital, Bharthwal said.

However, the state government has said due to inflation, the cost of construction has gone up from Rs 3 crore to Rs 12.24 crore since 2008.