PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate AIIMS Bilaspur, attend Kullu Dussehra celebrations

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate AIIMS, Bilaspur, and participate in the famous Kullu Dussehra celebrations during his visit to Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday. He will inaugurate and lay foundation stone for development projects worth over Rs 3,650 crore and also address a public meeting in the poll-bound state, an official statement said.

It said Modi's vision and commitment to strengthening health services across the country is being showcased again with the inauguration of AIIMS, Bilaspur.

Modi will also witness the Rath Yatra at the International Kullu Dussehra, state CM Jai Ram Thakur told media on Monday.

He said that Modi's consent to be a witness to the Rath Yatra shows his affection and connect with Himachal and its people.

Thakur on Monday took stock of the preparations at Rath Maidan in Dhalpur in Kullu district which will be visited by the PM.

Modi had laid the newly-built hospital's foundation stone in October 2017 and it has been established under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the statement said.

AIIMS, Bilaspur, constructed at a cost of more than Rs 1,470 crore, is a state-of-the-art hospital with 18 specialty and 17 super-specialty departments, 18 modular operation theatres and 750 beds, including 64 ICU beds.

Spread over 247 acres, the hospital is equipped with 24-hour emergency and dialysis facilities, modern diagnostic machines such as ultrasonography, CT scan and MRI among others. It also has a Jan Aushadhi Kendra and a 30-bed AYUSH block.

The hospital has also set up a Centre for Digital Health to provide health services in tribal and inaccessible areas of the state, it said.

Also, specialist health services will be provided by the hospital through health camps in the inaccessible tribal and high Himalayan regions such as Kaza, Saluni, and Keylong. The hospital will admit 100 students for MBBS and 60 students for nursing courses every year, it added.

Among other development projects, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone for a 31-km-long project for four laning of NH-105 from Pinjore to Nalagarh, worth over Rs 1,690 crore.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone for Medical Device Park at Nalagarh, which will be built at a cost of around Rs 350 crore.

Memorandums of Understanding of more than Rs 800 crore have already been signed for setting up industries in this park, it said, adding the project will significantly enhance employment opportunities in the region.

Noting that the International Kullu Dussehra Festival will be celebrated from October 5 to 11 at Dhalpur Ground in Kullu, the statement said the event is unique in the sense that it is the congregation of worshippers of more than 300 deities of the valley.

It will be the first-time ever that the prime minister will participate in the celebrations, it said.