Express News Service
AHMEDABAD: As the Gujarat Assembly elections draw near, the state is getting one gift after another from the government. The latest offering is a medical college. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday lay the foundation stone for the new GMERS Medical College in Navsari.
The facility will provide world-class health facilities to about one crore people from 2,397 villages of five districts, including Navsari. In the last five years, the Central government has approved nine medical colleges in Gujarat, including AIIMS, Rajkot.
In the last six months, Modi has unveiled big projects to show that he is still in touch with the state and its people. Multi-crore projects have been launched in areas dominated by tribal and Patidar communities, which constitute an important votebank for the BJP.
Navsari district is dominated by tribal communities, and last month, farmers of Vansda village here held a rally opposing the proposed Navsari Chennai express highway project. The district administration issued a notification stating that 496.06 hectares were to be acquired across eight villages each in Navsari and Vansda talukas and 10 villages in Chikhli taluka for the highway project. Residents of this area have been opposing this notification.
The new project is said to be an effort to quell the anger of the people. “This medical college will boost healthcare infrastructure and benefit the population of one crore residing in Navsari and the surrounding five districts,” Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said in a statement.
The project will be completed by 2024, he added. “We are equipping government hospitals in the state with world-class technology and robust healthcare facilities. This improved medical infrastructure will also enable the state to become a medical tourism destination in the future,” Patel stated.
