The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday ordered the immediate removal of encroachments from the BD Pandey Hospital here.
A bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal passed the order on a PIL asking Nainital’s district magistrate and sub-divisional magistrate to immediately remove the encroachments from the around 1.49-acre of land belonging to the hospital.
More than 100 encroachers have occupied the land in the hospital area over the years.
The encroachments are also hindering plans to upgrade it into a multi-speciality hospital.
In the PIL, local resident and retired teacher Ashok Lal Shah claimed that there was a lack of several health facilities at the hospital.
Despite being the main hospital of the district, patients who come here from distant places are often referred to Haldwani even for minor examinations, the plea said.
