PM Modi inaugurates 960-bed AIIMS Kalyani, IPD services open for patients

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday virtually inaugurated the 960-bed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Kalyani in West Bengal’s Nadia district.

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Santanu Thakur, Subhas Sarkar, Nishit Pramanik and John Barla attended the inauguration event from the AIIMS campus.  

AIIMS Kalyani, the OPD of which has been operational since 2019, is spread over 179.8 acres of land and currently serves around 2,000 patients daily.

Incidentally, West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has stated that AIIMS Kalyani does not have environmental clearance.

WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra had on Saturday said that according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), any project which is larger than 20,000 square metres requires an environment clearance (EC).

AIIMS Kalyani has been set up on an area larger than 20,000 square metres.

“The authorities of the AIIMS Kalyani had applied for environmental clearance on October 6, 2022. Its construction started before they obtained the clearance. So, the project is under the violation category,” he had told reporters on the previous day.

Following the MoEFCC guidelines, the WBPCB imposed an environmental damage cost and a penalty of over Rs 15 crore, Rudra added.

AIIMS Kalyani has, however, applied for an exemption contending that it was a healthcare facility and does not require an environmental clearance, he said.

But the state government has no authority to exempt the amount, Rudra said.

With 43 departments, including 17 super specialities, AIIMS Kalyani serves over 2,000 patients daily.

As per a media report in TOI, With the formal inauguration of AIIMS Kalyani, with an estimated project cost of Rs 1754 crore, the indoor facility was thrown open to people. The event was graced by the Governor C V Ananda Bose, Union Port, shipping and Ayush minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his MoS Santanu Thakur, MoS (education) Subhas Sarkar and Prof Chitra Sarkar, president of AIIMS Kalyani.