Stone of Samba AIIMS boundary wall laid

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 29

Work on the much-publicised project of setting up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Samba is likely to get an impetus as the authorities have laid the foundation stone of the boundary wall two days ago.

After the imposition of the Governor’s rule in the state, interference of politicians has virtually stopped in the day-to-day functioning of different departments, so the authorities have set a deadline to complete the “dream” project.

RS Tara, Deputy Commissioner, Samba, had laid the foundation stone of the boundary wall on Thursday to cover the 1,954 acres of land identified for the project.

“Very soon, all 215 families living in the forest land will be shifted to nearby areas, where land has been identified for their rehabilitation,” said sources and maintained that the majority of the nomadic people living in the forest were ready to vacate the land, but some politicians were instigating them against doing so. “After the imposition of the Governor’s rule, politicians are finding it difficult to influence the authorities, so the work on the project has been accelerated,” a source said and added that the authorities were not facing any resistance from the 215 nomadic families living in the forest land.

The Samba administration has already identified land measuring 350 kanals in Tarapur and Dagra villages to properly rehabilitate these nomadic families. “These families are voluntarily shifting to the places where alternative land has been identified for them,” a senior officer told The Tribune, adding, “It was politicians who were creating trouble in shifting these families.”