The BJP and the Central Government must allot the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) facility to Sengipatti in Thanjavur as the State Government had given its nod to the proposal. The mixed signals emanating from the BJP leaders point to a move to give the facility to Madurai and that must be defeated, activists and medical professionals have said.
Of five sites including Pudukkottai, Madurai, Erode and Chengalpattu, Sengipatti in Thanjavur district qualified as the apt site. It was stated that the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami impressed upon Mr. Modi during his February 27 meeting the need to establish the AIIMS at Sengipatti.
Some weeks back, senior BJP MP L. Ganesan stoke the fire when he said that the Union Health Minister told him that the facility would come up in Madurai. On Wednesday, the Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishan fudged media questions in Tiruchi on the issue.
The people were happy that the Central team and the State Government zeroed in on Sengipatti for establishing the AIIMS facility. What they professionally did is being sought to be negated by the BJP.
The BJP is trying to gain political mileage out of the issue and that must be resisted with all might, says the AITUC’s senior leader Durai Mathivanan who has been pressing for the early establishment of the facility.
Saying that political preference must not over ride professional reasoning when it comes to the field of medicine, former president of the Thanjavur District Chamber of Commerce and Industry K. Padmanabhan wonders what was the need for relocating the site when everything has been finalised.
The BJP has been playing wrong politics when it comes to the delta issues and the AIIMS location was one in the long list, he adds. We plead with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who claims to work above partisan politics to sensitise his party leaders from Tamil Nadu who clamour to shift the facility from Segipatti to Madurai. This is not the way to expand the base of the party, he cautioned.
