HYDERABAD: Nalgonda Lok Sabha member N. Uttam Kumar Reddy condemned the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for the inordinate delay in completion of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bibinagar. He blamed the BRS government in the state for failing to follow up on the matter with the Centre.
Reddy informed that he was shocked at the reply given by Union health minister Dr. Mansukh Mandviya to the question raised by him in the Lok Sabha on Friday with regard to the status of AIIMS, Bibnagar. He said that the statistics provided by the minister clearly show that there has been no progress in the last four years.
He said that the Bibinagar unit was among 22 new AIIMS sanctioned across the country under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). While six AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand are fully functional, the others are at various stages of operationalisation. He said that the Centre has neither released the funds that have been earmarked nor filled vacancies that have been sanctioned for AIIMS Bibinagar.
"This was approved by the Union cabinet on December 17, 2018 and an amount of Rs. 1,028 crore was sanctioned for the project. Of this, only Rs. 31.71 crore has been released. Further, the deadline for completion of the project, which was set for September 2022 in 2019, was extended to January 2025 in June this year. Now the Centre is silent on the deadline," he said.
He said that the replies given by the Centre with regard to AIIMS Bibinagar indicate that it was not keen on its completion.
