Delhi’s AIIMS seeks environmental nod for building new services block
The proposal was put in front of Delhi’s state expert appraisal committee (SEAC) last week, and the body has now set forward 49 terms of reference
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi has applied for a fresh environmental clearance (EC) to build a services block within the campus, which will be spread over an area of 10,665sqms, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.
The proposal was put in front of Delhi’s state expert appraisal committee (SEAC) last week, and the body has now set forward 49 terms of reference (ToR) for the project to receive clearance, the officials said.
“Project proponent has informed that to cater to services like laundry, kitchen and IT services of the mother and child block, surgical block, OPD block and National Centre for Ageing block, a separate service block was proposed in the master plan which has three basements and ten storeys. The three basements and ground floor of this block had already been constructed within the EC validity period. The EC is required only for completion of construction of the service block, having a remaining built-up area of 10,665 sqms,” the minutes of the SEAC meeting on July 31, which was shared on its website on Monday, said.
The institute had earlier received EC to build this block in 2012, but only three basements and the ground floor could be completed, and the clearance expired in 2019. Officials said that in order to resume work, a fresh EC has been sought, which will have ten floors in addition to the three basements.
Vijay Garg, chairman, SEAC said, “The EC expired in 2019 and while it could have been renewed within 90 days, this was not done. Now, in order for work to commence for this block, the project proponent has applied for a fresh clearance separately and an assessment will have to be done of the 49 terms of reference that we have put in front of them.”
The 49 ToR include details of how many trees will be felled or transplanted to build this block, a traffic and transportation study, the groundwater categorisation of the area, the source of water to be used during the project, and solid waste generation and how it will be treated, among others.
AIIMS had last year applied for an EC for its redevelopment project, which involves revamping 152.55 acres of area — 107.6 acres at the East Ansari Nagar campus, 30 acres at the Masjid Moth campus, and 14.95 acres at the Trauma Centre campus extension. The redevelopment involves the addition of around 3,000 more beds and requires 2,641 trees to either be felled or transplanted.
