After Rae Bareli Uttar Pradesh will have another All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and this time it will come up in Gorakhpur – the region endemic to deadly encephalitis disease.
Senior Minister in UP Government Ram Murti Verma told Vidhan Sabha here on Friday that Secretary, Medical and Health, Government of India, has written a letter on February 13, 2015 about Centre’s decision to construct another AIIMS in Gorakhpur. Answering to a question of Akhilesh Pratap Singh (Congress), the minister said that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has agreed to provide 200 acre of land free of cost for seting up of this premium institution. “There was a proposal to set up AIIMS in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Government has given an option to set up the same in Gorakhpur as it could cater to the neighbouring areas including Bihar,” the minister said. He was however non-committal when Congress member persistently asked whether Government has identified the land or will do the same in near future.
“Chief Minister has written a letter to Union Government to send a team of doctors to identify the area where they want to construct AIIMS. Government will give land in the identified area,” the minister said. Intervening into the discussion Dr Radha Mohan Das Agarwal (BJP) said to the best of his knowledge District Magistrate, Gorakhpur has identified four tehsils for the proposed purpose and Gorakhpur sadar is one of them.
“I suggest AIIMS should be constructed there because at the heart of the city and the area is well connected with road and rail,” he said. Minister however replied that all depends on the central team which will have the final say in site selection. To another question Government said that it will soon bring a legislation to extend help to workers working in unorganized sector. labour Minister Shahid Manzoor said that government is alive to the problems these workers are facing. “Through new legislation the workers will be given insurance and health cover,” he said.