Kolkata, Sept. 24 -- West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday used the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Adani Group's Rs 4,000-crore-plus, 2,000-bed hospital project in New Town to make a strong pitch for more investment in the state.
He urged Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani to expand the conglomerate's footprint across Bengal.
"The final vision is not just a hospital campus; it will be a fully integrated healthcare city. This hospital will give a big boost to medical tourism. This is a historic, meaningful and auspicious day for us. Viksit Bharat 2047 can happen only if Bengal develops," said Adhikari,
Adhikari and Adani signed two MoUs committing to the restoration of the historic Writers' Buildings and funding Kolkata's Durga Pujas through Adani Pujo Preview.
The Adani Arogya Mandir, which is coming up on 51.75 acres at Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub, is planned as the anchor of an integrated healthcare city. However, the land was initially handed over to the Adani group for setting up a data centre by the Mamata Banerjee government, a source said. He added the land-use transition was accompanied by the new investment plan.
The project is expected to generate around 10,000 jobs across the healthcare ecosystem and cater to more than two lakh inpatients and over two million outpatients annually. The significant public-health component is out of the 2,000 beds 1000 are earmarked for economically weaker sections eligible under state and central health schemes.
Adani Foundation has engaged Mayo Clinic Global Consulting and Singapore's SingHealth for expertise in clinical care, academic medicine, digital health, quality and workforce development.
"West Bengal has everything. I urge Gautam Adani to assist our government; please come forward to help revitalise Bengal," Adhikari said, pitching the hospital as the beginning of a wider partnership. He said the healthcare city and associated infrastructure would generate revenue and help position Kolkata as a medical-tourism destination.
The CM also sought Adani Group's participation in the proposed deep-sea port at Dadanpatrabar in East Midnapore, saying an RFP would be prepared soon, as the Tajpur port proposal was scrapped. The group has shown interest in the project.
Adhikari announced that the state was identifying land for a proposed greenfield airport at Kalyani, with around 2,000 acres across nine mouzas in Nadia identified for the project. He made a dig at the LF and Trinamool govt for their failure to give a roadmap in industrial growth in the past 50 years.
Adani Group's head Gautam Adani stated to invest more than Rs 1 lakh crore in Bengal by 2035. The Adani Arogya Mandir campus will have a medical college with an intake of 150 MBBS students and 100 PG students, along with 49 super specialists. There will be a college of nursing and an institution for allied healthcare and paramedical education for next-generation healthcare providers. Adani also announced support for revitalising Kumartuli Ghat.
Later in the day, while speaking at the annual session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in the city, Adani said Bengal has extraordinary intellectual traditions.
"Bengal is the greatest gift to the country. No place contributed so vastly to India's power to imagine as Bengal. It is the land of Swami Vivekananda, who has given us confidence to stand tall and proud before the world. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who has shown that conviction must always find its highest expressions in the form of courage," Adani stated.
He further pointed out that six Nobel Prize winners of the country have deep connections with Bengal.
The Mamata Trinamool, meanwhile, questioned the use of land allotted at Bengal Silicon Valley for Adani's 2,000-bed hospital, saying the "51-acre plot had been earmarked for a data centre and AI hub". In a social media post, the party asked why the land should not be returned for another IT company if Adani was not setting up the proposed technology hub.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.