Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur? Battle over AIIMS location hots up

CHANDIGARH: The proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) centre in Punjab has become a subject of discord between the coalition partners - the Akalis and the BJP - as the party leaders are demanding that it be opened in Bathinda or Hoshiarpur, respectively.

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 8

The proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) centre in Punjab has become a subject of discord between the coalition partners - the Akalis and the BJP -- as the party leaders are demanding that it be opened in Bathinda or Hoshiarpur, respectively. Not to be left behind, the state Congress has also joined the issue by proposing a third place - Ferozepur.

While the Union Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who represents the Akalis in the Union Cabinet, was lobbying for opening up the AIIMS centre in Bathinda, the BJP Union Welfare Minster Vijay Sampla has sought the setting up of the medical centre in Hoshiarpur.

The AIIMS centre would be fourth such state-of-the-art health project in the state. A satellite centre of the PGI has opened in Sangrur. A cancer institute is under construction in Mohali. Another PGI satellite centre was announced during the UPA regime for Ferozepore.

The Congress said the political tussle would only delay the project as happened with the Ferozepore satellite centre. Congress MLA from Ferozpore Parminder Singh Pinki said the UPA Government had announced the PGI satellite Centre for Ferozepore which was yet to come up.

He has asked BJP state president Kamal Sharma, who belongs to Ferozepur, to intervene and recommend AIIMS for Ferozepur.

However, Kamal Sharma told The Tribune that the BJP and the Akalis would sort out the issue among themselves and the Congress need not worry. “We are partners in the government. I have no idea about any political tussle over AIIMS. As far as the PGI satellite centre was concerned the land has been identified and Ferozepur will have the centre soon”.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently announced an AIIMS centre for Punjab. The location is to be recommended by the state government which also has to provide land and other logistics.

MP Vijay Sampla has reportedly forwarded the case of Hoshiarpur saying there was no special medical facility in this part of the state.

However, Harsimrat Kaur is pushing for Bathinda. In a statement after the Budget, she had said the state had medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot, besides private medical infrastructure in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. An AIIMS at Bathinda would ensure that the patients, especially those suffering from cancer, would not be required to go to far off places like Bikaner for medical treatment.