Maharashtra: Nanded gurdwara plans to set up med college & hospital with 50 years’ donations

AURANGABAD: Sachkhand Hazur Saheb Abchalnagar Gurdwara, Nanded, is planning to establish a super-speciality hospital and medical college by using donations received by the gurdwara board in the past 50 years.
The proposal has been moved by the gurdwara high priest, Jathedar Baba Kulwanth Singhji (Babaji), and is awaiting the board’s approval.
Those privy to the development said the proposal came forward after Babaji fell ill last year and was under treatment in Aurangabad.However, he had to be taken to Mumbai for treatment as his health had started deteriorating.
According to the proposal, the medical facility should be established either in Nanded or Aurangabad, so that people from the region are not forced to travel all the way to Hyderabad or Mumbai for treatment.
A video of Babaji proposing to utilise the gold received in donations by the gurdwara in the past five decades for setting up hospital, medical college and even educational institutes imparting quality education has been uploaded on social media.
Board president Bhupinder Singh Manhas, however, said that there were enough funds with the gurdwara and the need to use gold may not arise. “Anyway, the cost of land is zero as there is enough of that,” he said.
In Aurangabad, a trust has already come forward for transferring over 200 acre of land for the project while about 90 acre of land has also been earmarked in Nanded.
Sachkhand Huzuri Khalsa Diwan’s president Sardar Manjith Singh has come out in support of the proposal. He said, “We have already supported Babaji’s proposal and waiting for the board’s nod.”
Manhas said, “We are seriously considering the proposal. It will be taken up for discussion in the upcoming meeting.”
Manhas recalled that in 2013, the 1984 batch IAS officer Vijay Satbir Singh, who was heading the board then, had proposed a hospital. “That was followed by passing of a resolution as well as paying initial process fee, but somehow things did not move forward,” he added.