Chandigarh, December 13: Union food processing industry minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today asked Punjab chief minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to expedite grant of requisite no objection certificates for civil works which had delayed start of work on the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bathinda by four months.
In a letter to the chief minister, the Union minister, who is also mp from Bathinda, said the delay in granting permissions for shifting of water channels which fell within the premises of the proposed institute had delayed construction of the boundary wall of the project. She said the Health department had not issued NOC for shifting of the water channels despite a request from the Bathinda deputy commissioner on August 3, 2017. She said the Union health ministry had given NoC for the proposal submitted by the State government in July 2017.
Badal said besides this the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana had also delayed transfer of an alternate plot of land to AIIMS as a replacement for the water tank falling inside the same plot. She said in this case also the Union health ministry had given NoC for the transfer four months back but in this case also the State health department had not issued NoC to the Bathinda deputy commissioner to affect the transfer.
The Union minister said an AIIMS institute would provide state of the art health facility to the people of the region besides opening up job opportunities. She said the central government was on its part committed for early completion of the institute whose foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 25, 2016.
Asking the chief minister to look into the matter and instruct the concerned officers to grant immediate NoCs for the project, the Bathinda MP said this was of utmost importance as the project would not only benefit the state in the field of health and education, but would also generate employment.