TN govt should take the blame for delay in AIIMS project, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the budget for the proposed AIIMS hospital at Madurai in Tamil Nadu escalated by Rs 700 crore since land acquisition was delayed and the state government should take the blame for itSpeaking on the debate on the noconfidence motion in the Lok Sabha Sitharaman amid slogan shouting by DMK members said the budget for the proposed hospital went up from Rs 1200 crore to Rs 1900 crore since land acquisition was delayed by Tamil NaduThe DMK members shouted Eppo in Tamil demanding to know when the hospital would be built The Minister replied in both English and TamilSitharaman said hence the state government should take the blame and the Centre cannot be targeted for the delayAt the same time during coronavirus pandemic she said site inspections could not happen and as a result they the state government could not speed up the workI can understand the difficulty of the state government she said Sitharaman gave a detailed reply on Madurai AIIMS project after referring to DMK member T R Baalu expressing his concern over the initiativeShe said it was very disappointing that such a senior member had asked if it was not shameful on the part of the Prime Minister to borrow from Japan Japan International Cooperation AgencyJICA to build the hospitalThe Minister said AIIMS in Tamil Nadu is being set up in Madurai and the total project cost is Rs 197780 crore and the loan amount is Rs 1627 croreI want to be clear and I want this to go on record Since this is a central sector project the centre has taken the entire loan and there is no burden on Tamil Nadu government it forms a part of the central borrowingThe government of India has similarly funded through JICA loans the highspeed MumbaiAhmedabad bullet train project which also falls under central sector and hence the servicing of that loan too is done by the centreTo the accusation that AIIMS has been established in other states but not yet in Tamil Nadu she asserted the treatment is no different In fact Tamil Nadu has one additional benefit in the AIIMS projectUsually AIIMS hospital has 750 beds whereas Tamil Nadu would have 900 beds because of the addition of the infectious diseases blockAlso MBBS classes with a strength of 50 students has already started from April 2022 in a temporary accommodation in Ramanathapuram medical college and currently 99 students have been admittedShe said AIIMS is being built in Madurai and asked opposition members to not create a wrong opinion in the House on the project implementation Tamil Nadu has no loans and it is also getting more bedsThere is no need for Tamil Nadu to worry as to whether the Centre is borrowing or funding the project out of its own fundsThe borrowing from JICA by the Centre is part of our fiscal management and it is one of the external commercial borrowing and therefore it does not undermine the importance of AIIMS in MaduraiAs the DMK members repeatedly shouted asking when Eppo the hospital would be built she replied So far they asked are you not ashamed since the government is borrowing and now when we are saying that it will be built they are asking when the hospital would be constructed let there be no utterance of lie in the HouseWhen the DMK members started to walk out she asked why are you running away There is more to be told on Tamil Nadu do not run in case you go out at least watch on televisionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever