Manethi to get AIIMS if land available: Khattar

vinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rewari, August 31

In a bid to pacify villagers protesting for AIIMS at Manethi village here, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said the government was ready to set up AIIMS in Manethi on getting land at market rate in case the Forest Department did not remove objections over the proposed site.

Khattar said this while addressing a gathering in Manethi village in the Bawal Assembly segment during his Jan Ashirwaad Yatra. Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh and Public Health Engineering Minister Banwari Lal were also present.

The Chief Minister announced a committee on the demand of AIIMS Sangharsh Samiti to get the project executed in Manethi. Earlier, villagers submitted a memorandum to Khattar in this respect.

The AIIMS project had been hanging in the balance after the Forest Advisory Committee termed the proposed site in Manethi as non-specific, stating that it fell under the Aravalli Plantation Area and diversion would result in honeycombing of the only forest patch.

The project was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 2. The then Union Cabinet approved establishment of the project in Manethi at a cost of Rs 1,299 crore on February 28.

Khattar announced round-the-clock supply of electricity in every village of the state in the coming six months, stating that power was, at present, being made available for 24 hours in 4,137 villages in the state. He claimed that development works worth Rs 1 crore were undertaken in each Assembly segment.

“Our government has purchased every single grain of millet, mustard and sunflower. We have ensured water reaches tail-end villages of the Ahirwal region, where water had never reached during the past 30 years,” said Khattar.

Earlier, he inaugurated and laid foundation stone of 12 projects worth Rs 177 crore for the Bawal Assembly segment, including bus stand, power sub-station and water supply projects.