AIIMS Madurai’s operations began without a green light

Nearly five years after the prime minister placed the foundation stone at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) campus in Madurai, construction has reportedly started without the necessary statutory permits and in violation of environmental rules, according to sources.

Although a modest “vaastu pooja” marked the beginning of construction at the location in March of this year, the project has not yet received the required environmental clearance (EC) from Tamil Nadu’s State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) or the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s Consent to Establish (CTE). Other than fencing the site and building temporary huts for the guards, no civil work may be done without these permissions.

However, based on images shared on April 16 on the social networking site X (previously Twitter) by the official AIIMS Madurai account, several further projects are underway. At the location, men and large equipment were seen being used to build a number of buildings. The photographs show that many construction-related tasks were underway, such as filling in the dirt for the quality control lab, building the project office for L&T (the company that was given the construction contract), excavating the ground for the storage shed, and constructing the foundation for the weighing bridge.

However, according to the EIA Notification, 2006 and the ensuing Office Memorandums (OMs) released from time to time by the union environment ministry, none of these operations may be undertaken without the previous environmental clearance.

The AIIMS Madurai is a category B1 project, for which the SEIAA will award an EC. It was constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) plan. On February 27, an application was submitted for Terms of Reference (ToR) to produce an EIA study for the project. On April 17, SEIAA granted the ToR. The EC will be granted after the approval of the EIA study. However, on March 5, work began prior to the conclusion of these procedures.

Alok Devrani, the superintendent engineer at AIIMS Madurai, told TNIE that they have just begun a few approved pre-construction projects. Only after acquiring the EC will any significant civil works be initiated. The building location is a wasteland. There isn’t any tree cover or woodland. This is a government initiative for the greater welfare of society. No rules have been broken by us.

AR Member-secretary of SEIAA Rahul Nadh informed TNIE that a team will be sent to evaluate the situation on the ground. “Some pre-construction work is allowed, but we need to make sure the current construction work is included in that scope; if not, we will let them know.” On Thursday night, the Madurai District Environmental Engineer (DEE) of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board reportedly paid a visit to the AIIMS Madurai site and recommended the relevant authorities to cease all construction activities, with the exception of constructing a temporary room, according to reports.

“A notice of show-cause will be sent out if construction continues. This government initiative is significant. We have requested that the AIIMS authorities hold off on starting construction until all necessary approvals have been received. A top TNPCB official said, “If not, issuing EC will be further delayed because there is no provision under the law for obtaining post-facto clearance.”

“All activities currently under way are pre-construction activities conducted in accordance with the mandated protocols,” AIIMS Madurai tweeted later in the evening. It also said, “Once the Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) grants environmental clearance, the primary construction activities will begin.”

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has granted the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) to Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a renowned international construction firm, for the project’s development on March 4, 2024, according to an official statement from the director of Madurai AIIMS.