Gujarat govt to build medical college hostels damaged in AI-171 crash: Minister

The Tata Group, which owns Air India, has agreed to pay ₹53.12 crore to the state government for the damage caused to the ‘Atulyam’ 1 to 4 hostel blocks, the minister said

Published on: May 26, 2026, 22:30:28 IST

By Maulik Pathak, Ahmedabad

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The hostel complex of B J Medical College, which was severely damaged in last year’s Air India plane crash, will be rebuilt as an ultra-modern facility at a cost of ₹105 crore, Gujarat health minister Praful Pansheriya announced on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: A fire offical stands next to the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, in Ahmedabad, India, June 13, 2025. (REUTERS)

The Tata Group, which owns Air India, has agreed to pay ₹53.12 crore to the state government for the damage caused to the ‘Atulyam’ 1 to 4 hostel blocks, the minister said. A structural audit conducted after the tragedy had declared the buildings unsafe, making demolition unavoidable.

On June 12 last year, London-bound Air India flight AI-171 crashed into the medical hostel complex in Ahmedabad’s Meghaninagar area moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The disaster claimed the lives of 241 people on board and 19 on the ground. Only one passenger survived.

Pansheriya said the health department sought compensation from the Tata Group, which had responded positively and agreed to clear the entire amount shortly.

“To ensure that students’ accommodation facilities are not disrupted, the state government, under the guidance of chief minister Bhupendra Patel, has decided to construct the new hostel on a priority basis,” he added.

The new G+8 structure, proposed as the ‘Atulyam 1 to 7’ complex, will accommodate 236 doctors, including 144 additional seats planned over the next three years. It will feature studio apartments, a super-specialty hostel block, a modern canteen, a sub-station, basement parking, a gymnasium, and separate areas for unmarried students.

A budgetary provision of ₹34.65 crore has already been made for the financial year 2026-27 against an estimated initial allocation of ₹51.84 crore, and the land has been earmarked for construction.

Meanwhile, the official probe into the plane crash is nearing completion. Union civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu had stated on May 8 that the final investigation report is likely to be released within a month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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