The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration has decided to offer a vacant three-storied building near the confluence of the Teesta and Rangit rivers at Triveni to the Bengal health department to set up a pre-Covid-19 hospital.

Triveni is about 15km from Kalimpong.

The hospital would be the first of its kind in the Darjeeling hills with arrangements for Covid-19 tests and follow-up treatment.

The GTA has a three-storied building at Triveni which has never been put to proper use since its completion many years ago. “For Covid-19 preparedness in the hills, the GTA has offered its space at Triveni for creation of levels 1 and 2 facilities,” GTA head Anit Thapa said in a statement.

Sources said the hospital would act like a pre-Covid isolation facility.

Triveni is located a bit further from human habitats and the ambience on the riverbank and its location near nature would hopefully help in better mental health of the patients, said a GTA source.

Thapa said the decision had been taken at a meeting convened by S.K. Roy, the officer on special duty appointed by the state government for Covid-19 preparedness in north Bengal.

“The first meeting was held in Kalimpong on May 2 and it was attended by GTA principal secretary, district magistrate, police chief and the chief medical officer of health,” said Thapa.

“Another round of meeting will be held at Lal Khoti (GTA headquarters) in Darjeeling tomorrow (Wednesday),” said Thapa.

The sources said the pre-fabricated three-storied structure would turn into a 100-bed facility. As of now, there are 26 quarantine centres in the GTA area — 21 in Darjeeling district and five in Kalimpong district.

Around 300 people are kept in self-quarantine, too.