Minister, MLAs threaten to quit
Thiruparankundram MLA A K Bose also took a similar stand and vowed to get around the other eight MLAs' of the area to resign their posts.
Madurai: The people's movement to bring the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institute to Madurai gained momentum following expectation that the Centre might zero in on Sengapatti near Thanjavur to set up AIIMS.
The issue is again on the boil with State Revenue minister, R B Udayakumar shooting out his mouth, saying he would not hesitate to quit the EPS cabinet if the proposed AIIMS was not set up in Madurai. Thiruparankundram MLA A K Bose also took a similar stand and vowed to get around the other eight MLAs' of the area to resign their posts.
“I will also convince the DMK MLAs to resign in protest if the Central government fails to select Madurai,” the minister had told reporters on sidelines of a government function at T Kallupatti near Madurai.
Meanwhile, 'The People's Movement for AIIMS', which alleges the State Health and Family Welfare department filed a biased report to the Centre with a view to select Sengipatti in Thanjavur district, has decided to staged a protest in Chennai on June 15.
“We will demand the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to send a proper report to the Centre recommending the place based on merit for setting up the institute,” said V S Manimaran, coordinator of People's Movement for AIIMS, Madurai.
He also demanded the Central government to re-examine the report and select the place based on the recommendation given by the Central team that had inspected the five locations including Perundurai in Erode district, Thoppur at Madurai, Pudukottai town, Sengipatti in Thanjavur district and Chengalpattu in Kanchipuram districts during April 2015 to identify an appropriate place.
Citing the report, which they had obtained through RTI, Manimaran alleged that in the health indicators and gap in tertiary health care facilities parameters, the State government did not mention that Thanjavur has a government medical college. He also claimed that some other information on basic infrastructure was not stated.
However, a senior government officer from the State Health and Family Welfare department clarified that it was the Central government, which had earlier had identified Sengipatti in Thanjavur district as best suited location for setting up the AIIMS based on the inspection by the team.