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Headline: Villagers adamant, admn checks out more sites for AIIMS project

Officials visit Bishanpur, Alawalpur and Paavti villages

Tribune News Service

Rewari, January 19

The district administration has started exploring alternative sites for the ambitious AIIMS project in Bishanpur, Alawalpur and Paavti villages under Bawal sub-division. This follows the ongoing deadlock between residents of Majra-Bhalkhi villages and the government over land compensation.

The villagers are demanding Rs 50 lakh per acre in lieu of selling their land for the project while the government is not ready to pay them more than Rs 30 lakh per acre.

Sources said a committee of the district administration recently visited the three villages after the gram panchayat of Bishanpur village offered to provide land for the project. The team inspected proposed sites from different points of view and is likely to submit its report to the Deputy Commissioner soon.

“The proposed sites in Bishanpur, Alawalpur and Paavti villages for the AIIMS project were inspected following the proposal of a higher officer in this respect. A meeting of the committee will be held at the DC office tomorrow to discuss findings of the inspection,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Sources said the demand of Rs 50 lakh as land compensation by residents of Majra-Bhalkhi villages forced the administration to search for alternative sites for the project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the project during his visit to Kurukshetra in February 2019.

Initially, the project was to be executed at Manethi village, but the non-availability of adequate land forced the authorities to shift it to adjoining Majra and Bhalkhi villages, which offered over 300 acres for the project. Significantly, a committee of the Centre also found the proposed site suitable but the villagers refused to sell their land for less than Rs 50 lakh per acre.

Meanwhile, Sheotaz Singh, chief, AIIMS Sangharsh Samiti, has raised a serious question mark over the government’s intention stating that the government doesn’t seem to be ready to execute the PM’s announcement so the district administration was spending time in inspecting sites in various villages.

“A delegation of the Sangharsh Samiti will meet Union Minister Rao Inderjit on Tuesday to mount pressure on him to get the announcement executed at the earliest. We will launch an agitation if the implementation process is not initiated soon,” he said.