Gandhinagar/Ahmedabad, June 12 (IANS). Gujarat Health Minister Praful Pansheriya on Friday said the state government will develop two large institutions at the site where last year’s plane crash killed 260 people and caused massive damage to nearby medical infrastructure in Ahmedabad. Out of these, one center will be made for health and one for education.
On the first anniversary of the Ahmedabad accident, Minister Praful Pansheriya paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the accident and expressed condolences to their families. He said that the entire place where the plane crashed belongs to the health department and the government.
He said that after talks with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghvi, the proposal to set up two institutions at the accident site was finalized.
Praful Pansheriya said one of the proposed facilities would be a ‘health temple’, which would provide spinal treatment. Besides, hostel facilities will be included for students and doctors.
The second will be an education temple, which will be designed to support medical education infrastructure. He said that under this project, facilities like living facilities, mess and related infrastructure will also be developed for super-specialist medical students.
He said there are also plans to build another hostel for future super-specialist doctors, hospital facilities, student accommodation and mess facilities at the Swasthya Mandir.
Praful Pansheriya further said that this project has been divided into two parts and there will be an investment of more than Rs 500 crore in the construction of the proposed health and education facilities.
On June 12 last year, Air India flight AI-171 crashed shortly after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad.
The plane crashed in Meghani Nagar area and hit buildings associated with BJ Medical College and a nearby residential and hostel complex associated with the health department.
In this incident, 241 passengers and crew members on board the plane as well as 19 people on the ground also died, taking the total death toll to 260.
According to officials, the impact of the crash had caused massive structural damage to ‘Atulyaam 1 to 4’ hostel blocks, canteen and sub-station buildings located in the New Mental Campus near the Civil Hospital in Asarwa.
At that time about 92 students were living in the hostel. A subsequent structural audit declared the buildings unsafe, following which a plan was made to vacate them and demolish them.
Following this, the state government has decided to rebuild the damaged hostel infrastructure as part of a major redevelopment plan at the site. This includes a modern super-specialty post-graduate hostel complex for doctors and improved facilities aimed at strengthening the medical education and healthcare capacity of the state.
–IANS
PSK/VC
