By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: A committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOH&FW) has decided that the revised Master Plan of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Awantipora should be in line with the security instructions issued by the Ministry of Defence.
According to official documents in possession of The Precious Kashmir, a committee constituted by the MOH&FW has decided that CPWD should revise the Master Plan in line with the security instructions issued by the Ministry of Defence.
The revised Master Plan has been shared with the concerned officers to build consensus, the documents further state.
Earlier this year, the Army had raised certain objections over construction of AIIMS Awantipora.
“Divisional Commissioner Kashmir was informed in the meeting by the Brigadier Arun Yadav that the proposed AIIMS campus hugs the military garrison and has a common boundary wall of 1.7 kms. NoC guidelines issued by the Ministry of Defence GoI dated May 18-2011 stipulate that no construction within 100 meters and no buildings above the four storeys within 500 meters from the periphery of the military garrison,” read minutes of a meeting chaired by the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir on May 27, 2021. “There are ten multi-storey buildings (10 to 38 meters height) which directly overlook the sensitive installation of contagious military garrison.”
The documents also reveal that makeshift arrangements are being made for starting the first batch of AIIMS.
Of Rs 1828 crore sanctioned for the project in 2019, the government has released 234. 51 crore so far, of which Rs 188.98 crore have been utilized.
The AIIMS, Awantipora is part of the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) which was announced on November 7, 2015.
The Central Government has appointed CPWD as an executing agency for the project.