Shimla, Sep 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) near Bilaspur in the poll- bound Himachal on October 3.Health Minister JP Nadda, in whose home district the AIIMS is coming up, confirmed this news and expressed gratitude to Modi and said it was a great gift for the state.
The PM is also likely to inaugurate IIM at Sirmaur and lay the foundation stones of both campuses of Central University at Dehra and Dharamsala online from Bilaspur.A public meeting would also be held at Bilaspur but it was yet not clear weather it was a government function or a BJP rally, party sources said.
AIIMS at Bilaspur had become a poll issue with the Congress government accusing the Union Health Ministry of not approving the project and laying of stone by the Prime Minister. The development will silence the critics while the BJP will get an impetus in the upcoming elections.
The project will come up at Kothipura, 10-km from Bilaspur on the Shimla-Bilaspur highway. The institute will be in the middle of the state with driving time of about 2-3 hours from Shimla and Kangra. “It will be a game changer for Bilaspur where a medical city will come up with lots of job opportunities for people,” Nadda said.About 200 acres have been provided by the state government for it.
All land belongs to the government and no private land is involved and all clearances have been obtained. The Union Government finally approved the project after a team of the Centre visited the site and approved the location.With the Assembly poll around, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is on inauguration and foundation-laying spree and now the BJP has also ensured that the foundation of AIIMS is laid before the code of conduct is imposed.
It is now clear that the code of conduct will be imposed after October 3 and elections be held in early November. The history is repeating itself as then Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had also announced an IIT, IIM and Central University in Himachal on October 2, 2007, and elections were announced on October 10.
The IIT at Mandi and IIM at Sirmaur have been set up but the Central University campus could not be build even after 10 years due to controversy over the main campus.The elections were held in the state, including three tribal Assembly constituencies which become snowbound in winters, on November 4, 2012. In 1993 also, when the state was under the President rule, the polling was held on all 68 constituencies on November 9.
Source Tribune India
