AIIMS Jammu to be functional in Jan 2023; A’pora 2 yrs later
TNN Bureau. Updated: 7/17/2019 11:30:32 AM
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JAMMU: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) being set up at Vijaypur in the Jammu province under the Prime Minister’s developmental package for the state is expected to be completed by January 2023 while its counterpart in Awantipora in south Kashmir is likely to be functional two years later in January 2025, the Centre informed on Tuesday.
Both these prestigious projects are aimed at enhancing the healthcare facilities in the strife-torn State.
Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State in the ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that AIIMS at Vijaypur is coming up at an approved outlay of Rs. 1661 Crores and target date for completion of project is January 2023.
He said that the AIIMS in Awantipoara, with an approved outlay of Rs.1828 crores is expected to be completed on January 2025.
South Kashmir is especially deficient in specialized medical facilities, and patients have to undertake a journey of up to two to three hours to reach Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, for advanced treatment of serious ailments. The coming up of AIIMS in the vicinity will improve the situation, officials underlined.
According to the official, 1886 kanals and 5 marals (235.75 acres) at Awantipora and 1954 kanals and 6 marlas (244.25 acres) at Vijaypur stand transferred and handed over to the central public works department which is the executing agency for these projects.
In January this year, the state’s administrative council sanctioned Rs 87 crore for removing hurdles in the way of building two AIIMS. The J&K government has undertaken to ensure hassle-free access to both sites by paying for land acquisition for development of roadway or for any other purpose for realising the premier medical institutes. However, land acquisition and removal of other bottlenecks has been a main hurdle for the last couple of years.