Chandigarh: Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to expedite grant of requisite no objection certificates (NOC) for civil works which had alleged they delayed the start of work on the AIIMS at Bathinda by four months. In a letter to the chief minister, Minister minister for Food Processing, who is also SAD MP from Bathinda, said the "delay" in granting permissions for shifting of water channels, which fell within the premises of the proposed institute, had delayed construction of the boundary wall of the project. 

She said the Health department had not issued the NOC for shifting of the water channels despite a request from the Bathinda deputy commissioner on August 3, 2017. Kaur said the Union Health Ministry had given the NOC for the proposal submitted by the state government in July, 2017. The Union minister, according to a press release here, said an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would provide state-of-the-art health facility to the people of the region. 

She said the central government was on its part committed for early completion of the institute whose foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 25, 2016. Asking the chief minister to look into the matter and instruct the concerned officers to grant immediate NOCs for the project, the Bathinda MP said this was of utmost importance as the project would not only benefit the state in the field of health and education, but also also generate employment.