Chennai : The central government has chosen Thoppur in Madurai district for msetting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences branch as was requested by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

A central government team had inspected four sites in Tamil Nadu, including Thoppur and finalised the location in Madurai district. State health minister C Vijaya Baskar handed over the central government’s sanction order to Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami at his office in secretariat on Wednesday.

The Chief Minister thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union health minister JP Nadda for setting up AIIMS in Tamil Nadu. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Palaniswami said “heartfelt thanks to the PM and the Union health minister on behalf of me and people of Tamil Nadu. The state government will extend all assistance to Centre.”

The CM in conversation with media persons recalled that besides Thoppur, four other places — Chengalpet (Kancheepuram), Sengipatti (Thanjavur), Perundurai (Erode) and Pudukkottai — were inspected by the Union government for setting up AIIMS. It was Amma who requested the central government to set up AIIMS in the state. The order setting up Rs 1500 crore AIIMS in Madurai fulfils her request, the Chief Minsiter said.

The 750-beds hospital would come up at a 200 acre spot identified by the state government at Thoppur. It will also have 100 MBBS seats and 60 nursing seats in the college attached to it.

The Pradhan Mantri Swathya Suraksha Yojana director Sanjay Roy sent a communication to state government confirming centre’s decision, but the state will have to provide a four lane connectivity from the national highway to the hospital site.

The other conditions the state will have to ensure is that t will have to ensure 20MVA of power supply from two different feeders and adequate power supply; the state will have to hand over land free of encumbrances/encroachments to the Centre and shift low tension transformer lines in the site.