Uncertainty looms over AIIMS project

Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 21

Uncertainty is looming over the setting up of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the Jammu region. For the project, 225-acre plot has been identified at Vijaypur in Samba district.

The state government claims that many nomadic families, staying at the site meant for AIIMS, have been shifted to alternative sites at Tarapur village for rehabilitation but the ground reality is different. A visit to the AIIMS site revealed the slow pace of work, be it the construction of a road or shifting of nomadic families.

According to official records, there were around 204 nomadic families who were living on the piece of land identified for the construction of AIIMS. They were provided alternative sites for rehabilitation. During an interaction with a few nomadic families, they claimed that a total of 280 families would be affected by the project, but the authorities had identified only 204 for rehabilitation.

“The government is fooling us by saying that only 204 families are eligible for rehabilitation with 30 marlas for each family. There are a total of 280 families and unless all are included in the list of beneficiaries, we will not shift,” Muskeen Ali, a member of an affected nomadic family, told The Tribune.

“Only a few families, whose houses fell in the portion marked for a road, have moved out. More than 200 families are still residing here and will not shift unless the remaining families are added to the list of beneficiaries,” he said.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Vijaypur, Sanjeev Kumar said the land acquisition process had almost been completed, but he admitted delay in the shifting of nomadic families to the alternative sites.

“Nomadic families are still residing in their hamlets and it will take another two-three months to shift them,” the SDM added.

Pertinently, after an aggressive agitation by the AIIMS Coordination Committee — an amalgamation of over 70 organisations of Jammu in 2015 — the Centre had announced a separate AIIMS for Jammu.