Kerala’s proposal to set up an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Kinalur in Kozhikode has again failed to get any mention in the Union Budget.
The State government has acquired around 150 acres at Kinalur for the purpose and the steps to take over another 100 acres are going on.
Condemning the Union government’s continued “neglect” of the State’s health sector in the Budget, Health Minister Veena George on Saturday said AIIMS had been a long-pending demand from Kerala. She pointed out that all the procedures mandated by the Centre, including acquisition of the required land, had been completed. Ms. George said she had also met successive Union Health Ministers many times with the demand.
M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, who has been raising the demand inside and outside Parliament for long, said the Union Budget focussed mainly on the upcoming Assembly polls in New Delhi and Bihar had completely ignored Kerala’s interests.
Meanwhile, there are some differences of opinion within the State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well about the location of the institute. While Union Minister of State for Tourism, Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi has indicated more than once his preference for a southern district, BJP leaders from Palakkad have formed an action committee to bring it to their town. The party’s district leaders in Kozhikode have publicly supported the proposal to set up AIIMS at Kinalur.
Another group named Kasaragod Janakeeya Koottayma has approached the Kerala High Court with a request to have it in the district. A Division Bench of the court on January 28 had directed the State government to file an affidavit saying whether it has followed the Central government’s norms while selecting the site at Kinalur. According to the petitioner, the selection of Kinalur was done not as per procedure laid down by the Centre.
Published – February 01, 2025 08:57 pm IST