Centre directs J&K government to identify land for AIIMS in both regions

"The letter says that 200 acre land should be identified in both the regions. The decision on this issue was taken by the Health Minister himself," a senior Health Ministry official said while confirming the development.

He said that yesterday's meeting was a follow up of the meeting held earlier between the Health Minister and a delegation of Jammu and Kashmir.

The delegation which met Nadda recently included state Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, Health Minister Lal Singh, state BJP president Jugal Kishore Sharma, party J&K affairs in charge Avinash Rai Khanna and general secretary Narendra Singh.

Facts of the recent uproar in the state as reported by PTI,

ACC, an amalgamation of over 70 organisations, has been leading an agitation for setting up of AIIMS in Jammu region.

The Centre has announced that it plans to set up six new All India Institutes of Medical Science (AIIMS) in six different states in order to cater to the increasingly growing demands for more doctors across the country. Meanwhile, the ACC today announced suspension of Jammu bandh call after the Centre's move.

It has, however, clarified that bandh has been suspended not called off but agitation of huger strike will continue till the Centre issue notification for separate AIIMS in Jammu region.

"We have decided we will suspend Jammu bandh call till the next meeting of Coordination Committee is held. We are also seeking clarification from GoI apart from acquiring land for AIIMS, which is first step of setting of AIIMS, how much time it will take to communicate to ACC about sanctioning of the all 26 departments, separate budget of Rs 1500 crore, separate directorates here", Chairman ACC, Abhinav Sharma told reporters here today.