MP slams Centre for slashing grants to Jipmer

‘While in 2019-20, Jipmer was allocated ₹1100 crore, in the present budget the allocation has been brought down by ₹100 crore’

Villupuram MP D. Ravikumar. File.

Villupuram Member of Parliament D. Ravikumar has voiced his concern over the reduction in allocation of grants by the Union government to the Centrally administered Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry in the Union budget for 2020-21.

In a statement, he said that the Centre had been constantly bringing down the allocation of funds for Jipmer which only exposed the Centre’s bias against the institution. He called upon the Puducherry government to raise its voice against the Centre’s attitude.

While in 2019-20, Jipmer was allocated ₹1100 crore and it had spent ₹1053.48 crore, in the present budget the allocation has been brought down by ₹100 crore, he said.

Mr. Ravikumar said that Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, another centrally funded hospital had been earmarked ₹1426.53 crore in the current budget. The institute was allocated ₹1500 crores in the 2019-20 budget and it had spent ₹260 crore more than the allocated funds.

He charged the Centre with showing scant regard for the development of Jipmer by bringing down its allocation of grants every year.

Jipmer has been catering to the health requirements of people from not only Puducherry but also the districts of Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvannamalai and Ariyalur districts in Tamil Nadu, he said.