Manjeri:The Government Nursing College in Manjeri continues to function without a campus of its own three years after its launch, leaving one batch of students to attend classes above the Government Medical College's canteen.

The students attend classes from the second floor of a three-storey building at the Government Medical College, where the ground floor houses the canteen and the top floor accommodates the offices of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Electrical Department. With no alternative space available, the classrooms were set up there to ensure that academic activities continue uninterrupted.

The arrangement is set to continue for now, although there is fresh hope for a permanent campus. In a renewed push to revive the long-pending project, officials from the PWD and the Geology Department recently inspected a 3.99-acre Health Department-owned plot at Cherani earmarked for the proposed campus. The inspection team has recommended a detailed technical assessment before the project can move forward.

The inspection comes in the wake of a directive by the District Collector at a meeting held the other day to reassess the feasibility of the Cherani site, which currently houses the TB Hospital.

Since its inception, the nursing college has been functioning by sharing the infrastructure of the Government Medical College. The Health Department had earlier earmarked the Cherani land for a permanent campus comprising the nursing college, a nursing school, hostel, staff quarters and an academic block. The project had also received administrative sanction of Rs.14 crore. However, the proposal failed to take off after the PWD Architectural Wing declined approval, citing the steep terrain of the site.

The latest inspection has rekindled hopes among students and college authorities that the long-delayed campus project will finally move forward.