Site finalised, AIIMS to be set up in Bathinda soon

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would come up along the Dabwali road on the outskirts of Bathinda. Punjab chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal said this here on Friday while interacting with the media.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would come up along the Dabwali road on the outskirts of Bathinda.

Punjab chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal said this here on Friday while interacting with the media. "The site for AIIMS in Bathinda was finalised two months ago," said Kaushal, who was here to attend a meeting on flood preparedness of 12 districts falling under the Majha and Doaba regions.

Punjab-chief-secretary-Sarvesh-Kaushal

While Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal favoured the institute in Bathinda, the state government had in March this year finalised a site near Ramidi village in Kapurthala district. Even chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had been avoiding questions on the issue during his recent visits to the Doaba region.

The day the Centre announced the institute for Punjab, Harsimrat raised the demand that it should come up in her home constituency Bathinda on a plea that Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot already had government medical colleges and Ludhiana and Jalandhar had private medical colleges.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan had announced AIIMS for Punjab after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power in May last year.

Following this, the CM announced that the government was planning to set up the institute somewhere in Jalandhar. However, due to non-availability of the land, Kapurthala district was chosen for the project.