Sundargarh: Locals and members of Western Odisha Yuva Manch are observing a 12-hour bandh in Sundargarh demanding the establishment of the second All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Odisha in the town, as proposed by the State Government.
The effects of the bandh were felt early in the morning. All shops and markets in the city were closed. The agitators have blocked roads at Rani Bagicha Bypass and Kirei Bypass on the Biju Expressway affecting vehicular communication to and from Rourkela and Jharsuguda.
Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das had in March 2021 written a letter to the then Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan for the establishment of a second AIIMS in Sundargarh.
Das had stated that an infrastructure building for a medical college and hospital is ready in Sundargarh and has been constructed by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) under corporate social responsibility.
The Central government has been considering setting up a second branch of AIIMS in States where there has been already one AIIMS is functioning. Das had asked Vardhan to consider setting up second AIIMS at Sundargarh while citing the population density in western Odisha.
Later in September 2021, Sundargarh MP Jual Oram sought the intervention of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya for the establishment of the premiere institute in his constituency.
He informed that the Government of Odisha had entered into an MoU in December 2013 with NTPC that was supposed to run the Medical College and Hospital so as to enable admission of students into the medical college from 2016-17 academic session.
In a letter to Mandaviya, he cited that the NTPC has completed the construction of 100 seated Medical College and 500 bedded Hospital equipped with all modern medical equipment in Sundargarh. But even after the lapse of more than seven years of entering MoU, not much has been done in this regard.
