Kanjikode’s 228-acre land for Coach Factory now among sites proposed for Kerala’s AIIMS

Thiruvananthapuram: The list of locations being proposed to the Centre for establishing the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kerala will also include the 228 acres of land earmarked for the proposed Railway Coach Factory at Kanjikode in Palakkad.

The move comes after the Central Government announced the cancellation of the coach factory project. The state government had earlier submitted a list of 10 locations to the Centre for consideration for AIIMS. The 228-acre Kanjikode site will now be added to the list.

The land was acquired by the state government and handed over to the Centre in 2012 for the coach factory project. It is currently in the possession of the Ministry of Railways. If the site is selected for AIIMS, there would be no need for fresh land acquisition or compensation to landowners. The land would only have to be transferred from the Ministry of Railways to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

There is also an assessment that an AIIMS facility at Kanjikode could benefit neighbouring Tamil Nadu as well, given its proximity to the state.

Meanwhile, the 61.34 hectares of land acquired by the previous LDF government in the Kinaloor-Kanthalad region of Kozhikode was handed over to the Department of Medical Education in September 2024. The land comprises 39.24 hectares in Kinaloor and 22 hectares in Kanthalad. Though its fair value is estimated at around Rs 20.32 crore, the state government had decided to make the land available to AIIMS free of cost.

The Centre had not favoured the state's earlier position of proposing Kinaloor as the sole location for AIIMS. Following this, the state changed its approach and decided to submit a list of potential sites from different districts.

A team comprising the Director of Medical Education and the Principal Secretary of Health is currently visiting the proposed sites and collecting details for submission to the Centre.