Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday lay the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He is also set to launch several other projects worth over Rs 17,500 crore in Haldwani in poll-bound Uttarakhand.

This will be the second AIIMS in the hill state after the one in Rishikesh which was established back in 2012.

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In a tweet, PM Modi said “Devbhoomi Uttarakhand will move towards touching new heights of progress tomorrow. In Haldwani, I will have the opportunity to lay foundation stones and inaugurate 23 projects worth over Rs 17,500 crore. These include infrastructure projects related to health, roads and irrigation.”

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was grateful to PM Modi for accepting his request for opening an AIIMS for people of the Kumaon region, for whom going all the way to AIIMS, Rishikesh, for treatment is difficult.

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Apart from laying the foundation stone for AIIMS Haldwani, PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of 23 projects worth over Rs 17,500 crore.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), these projects cover a wide array of sectors across Uttarakhand including irrigation, road, housing, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, drinking water supply among others.

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These 23 projects include laying the foundation stone of AIIMS Rishikesh satellite centre in Udham Singh Nagar district and Jagjivan Ram Government Medical College at Pithoragarh.

“These two hospitals are being built at a cost of about Rs 500 crores and Rs 450 crore respectively. The improved medical infrastructure will not only help the people of Kumaon and Terai regions but also the bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh,” the PMO statement read.

These events come months ahead of the high stakes assembly elections in Uttarakhand. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won the elections last time in 2017, is aiming for a second consecutive win.

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Given the threat posed by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Election Commission and sought its response over the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking postponement of the assembly elections in the state. The high court was hearing the PIL regarding the matter on Wednesday.