Have urged Centre, Tamil Nadu will get AIIMS soon: Edappadi K Palaniswami
Chennai: Chief Minister Edapaddi K. Palaniswami has exuded confidence that the Centre will take a favourable decision and establish All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at one of the five places identified by the State, soon.
“We are striving hard to get the AIIMS and our objective is to it for Tamil Nadu soon,” Mr. Palaniswami said and expressed that the stringent selection procedures have eliminated many places.
For instance, the site at Madurai was not accepted by the Central committee due to the presence of a gas pipeline.
“We stressed the need for AIIMS and urged the Centre to take expeditious steps to select any one among the five places that were identified for the premier institute,” the CM told the Assembly on Thursday.
Intervening the speech of DMK’s former state minister Duraimurugan, who raised the issue, Mr Palaniswami said “it does not matter where the institute came up. We want it to be established in Tamil Nadu at the earliest.”
State health minister Dr C. Vijayabaskar said the Centre was very particular in identifying an ideal location for establishing the institute.
“The Central team which visited the state to assess the places, wanted to know if there was road, rail and air connectivity.
“They also emphasised on various other parameters. Our Chief Minister is very
particular on exerting pressure on the Centre to set up the AIIMS. He had spoken over phone with officials concerned and is following up the project,” Dr Vijayabaskar added. It may be recalled that the state government has identified Thoppur in Madurai district, Pudukottai, Sengipatti in Thanjavur district, Chenglepet near here and Perundurai in Erode district, for the Central project.
TN is eden of Peace, L&O is well maintained: EPS
Averring that Tamil Nadu is an Eden of peace and that the crime graph has declined compared to other States in the country due to effective measures, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has claimed that the law and order situation in TN is well maintained.
“Tamil Nadu remains as an Eden of peace and the crime rate in the State has come down compared to other States,” the Chief Minister told the Assembly on Thursday while refuting a charge by DMK Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House, Duraimurugan that crimes were on the rise.
Initiating a debate on the budget, Mr. Duraimurugan referred to a recent incident of a history-sheeter celebrating his birthday by cutting a cake in the presence of more than 150 rowdies from across the State and alleged that law and order had deteriorated. Responding, Mr. Palaniswami said it was the AIADMK, which had identified the rowdies and initiated stern action against them.
“But the previous DMK government failed to identify the rowdies and take appropriate action on them,” he said and stressed that rowdies do not emerge all of a sudden.
The CM pointed out that the State government has created a situation wherein the rowdies in Tamil Nadu were fleeing to other States after the TN government listed them out them.
“Crimes occur everywhere, but the crux of the issue is one ought to see whether rowdyism or crime is under control. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, the law and order is well maintained,” Mr Palaniswami said.
