The construction of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the Awantipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district is going on in full swing and every effort is being made to complete the project by the end of 2024, officials said on Wednesday.
The work is going on at “very full speed” and if it continues at this pace, the project will be completed on time, an official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).
He said that earlier there was a legal dispute over the acquisition of land needed for the access road essential for transporting construction material, followed by a clampdown after the abrogation of Article 370, and then issues with a nearby army base. The winter season and COVID-19 were also the reasons behind the slow execution of work on this mega project, he added.
The official said the work has been going on at full pace for the last several months now and the same pace should continue for around the next one and half years so as to complete the hospital by December 2024.
A top official working on the project said that in the last few years, there were some issues due to which the work was going on at a sluggish pace; however, all issues were resolved and currently, the work is going on at full pace.
As of now, only construction work is going on and the installation of machinery process will be taken up later, he said, adding that around 50 percent of work has been already completed and every effort is being made to complete the project before the deadline.
The government has set December 31, 2024, as the deadline for completion of this mega project.
The AIIMS was approved by the Central government in 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,828 crore. The project entails the construction of approximately 57 buildings, including a hospital, hostels, residential quarters, a football ground, tennis courts, and gardens with medicinal plants, among other facilities.
The institute will add 1,000 beds to its current capacity in Kashmir, including 300 super-speciality beds. The ambitious project also includes a Medical College with a capacity of 100 students and a Nursing College with a capacity of 60 students—(KNO)