Union Urban Development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the project will change the face of AIIMS.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi © AIIMS

The AIIMS on Tuesday joined hands with the NBCC Limited for developing a housing complex for the staff at its western campus amid protests by Resident doctors who are opposing the government’s policy of selling 10 per cent institutional land for commercial use. Terming as “historic moment” the signing of MoU,1 Union Health Minister J P Nadda said in the last two years many development proposals of AIIMS have turned into reality.

Union Urban Development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the project will change the face of AIIMS.

  • 1. The proposed “redevelopment” of AIIMS purportedly aims at the “augmentation of AIIMS Housing pool”. It involves two parcels of land belonging to the institute: 28.3 acres in West Ansari Nagar and 49.4 acres in Ayur Vigyan Nagar. These are residential colonies of AIIMS containing 1,444 single or two-storeyed houses of type I to type IV.

    The MoU for the project states that these and other structures in the sites such as garages, Dharamshalas, schools and temples are to be demolished to make way for 4,505 houses of type II to VI and “other infrastructure”. Once constructed Ayur Vigyan Nagar next to Ansal Plaza and opposite Uday Park will have towers of 67 metres and West Ansari Nagar – opposite AIIMS and adjoining Safdarjung Hospital – will get structures 39 metres high. In comparison, the East Kidwai Nagar complex, which is already partially constructed, has towers 46 metres high.

    But riding on this genuine need to increase housing for the AIIMS staff is the more contentious objective of “optimum utilisation of land, a scarce resource”. As per official documents, the built-up area (BAU) in West Ansari Nagar is proposed to increase from 28,550 sq. m to 3,31,371 sq. m and, in Ayur Vigyan Nagar, it will go up from 72,766 sq. m to 5,99,810 sq. m.