It was in the making for eight long years and just when many who fought for it had begun to give up, the communally sensitive town of Malegaon got a modern, 200-bed government hospital today. Born out of the religious strife witnessed in the aftermath of a Hindu-Muslim riot so familiar to this town, the hospital aims to resolve the ordeal the majority Muslim population faces when it comes to accessing medical services.

The four-storey, Rs 19-crore complex was inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Locals said she owed it to them. During a visit to the town after it was hit by riots in 2001, Gandhi had responded to demands from local Muslims and promised that her party’s state government would build a new hospital.

At that time, the town with a population of around 4 lakh then had only a 30-bed government hospital. Private hospitals and nursing homes were in the Hindu areas across the Mausam river that runs through the town and also cuts a religious swathe through it. If there was communal tension in the town, as there often is, Muslims did not dare cross the bridge and risk a trip to the private hospitals.

But Gandhi’s promise didn’t seem like it would materialise any time soon even though construction of the hospital was started. When Malegaon was hit by serial bomb blasts in 2006 that killed 37 Muslims at a local mosque and Gandhi visited the town again, some locals had confronted her about how a new hospital could have saved more lives. Malegaon was hit by a bomb attack again last year — the Maharashtra ATS later zeroed-in on a group of Hindu hardliners as the perpetrators — but the hospital was still not ready.

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