Times of India Trichy Tamilnadu 23.3.2018 Govt’s choice of AIIMS site riles Madurai campaigners

Times of India Trichy Tamilnadu 23.3.2018
Govt’s choice of AIIMS site riles Madurai campaigners

Mar 23, 2018, 00:46 IST

Madurai/Trichy: Chief Minister Eddapadi K Palaniswami’s disclosure in the assembly on Thursday that the government had decided to recommend Sengipatti in Thanjavur district as the site for setting up the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) has come as a shocker for those who have been campaigning for the premier health institute in Madurai. On the other hand, the decision has cheered up the people of Thanjavur.

It may be recalled that several organisations and trade bodies of Madurai had joined hands to constitute the AIIMS for Madurai movement to demand that the hospital be established at Madurai at all costs. ``If the CM had suggested that AIIMS should come up at Sengipatti it would be a gross injustice to the people of Madurai and also the people of 13 southern districts, for which Madurai is the headquarters. It will be unacceptable and we will launch a protest not only in Madurai, but in Chennai and Delhi too till the hospital is brought here,’’ said the movement’s chief co-ordinator V S Manimaran.
Senior president of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, S Rethinavel said if Sengipatti had been the decided by the government, it was done purely on vested interests and not merit. Former CPM MLA, R Annadurai said that the campaign for AIIMS for Tamil Nadu originated in Madurai, which was the most suited place for the hospital. ``If Madurai is deprived of this facility, a protest would be launched on a large scale,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, M Sekaran, president of the Federation of Service Organisations, said that out of five locations identified by the state government for the project, Sengipatti had an edge on several aspects. “Our stand is that the location should be chosen by the union health ministry based on the challenge method. We want an AIIMS in Tamil Nadu at an easily accessible place to people from all parts of the state,” he said. He also cited an RTI reply which said that Sengipatti scored better than Madurai in the challenge method.
AIIMS for Madurai movement’s Manimaran said that a pipeline of the IOC passed through the land identified in Madurai at Thoppur for the institute. However, even IOC had given a no objection certificate for the establishment of the hospital on the land. He pointed out that the matter was pending before the Madurai bench of the Madras high court. Petitioner K K Ramesh had pleaded for establishing the hospital in Madurai. The court had asked the central government to decide the positive and negative aspects of the locations identified by the Tamil Nadu government in establishing AIIMS and file a report before June 15 this year. ``How, can the CM make such a statement now?’’ he said.
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Dr M A Aleem, who has also been fighting for AIIMS at Sengipatti said that it would will be a suitable place as it was equidistant from all parts of Tamil Nadu. “People from anywhere in Tamil Nadu can reach the location easily because of its geographically central location,” Aleem told TOI.

Sengipatti in Thanjavur district was one of the five locations identified by the Tamil Nadu government in 2014 for the AIIMS.
The state government finalised the sites after the central and state teams of officials visited Sengipatti, Chengalpattu in Kancheepuram, Pudukkottai town, Perundurai in Erode and Thoppur in Madurai in 2015 after the BJP government at the Centre approved establishing AIIMS in Tamil Nadu.