Akhilesh's new ploy to woo voters? SP Govt lays foundation stone of three big-ticket projects

Lucknow, Oct 15: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday laid the foundation stones of a 1,000-bed super-specialty hospital, a 100-acre Information Technology (IT) city and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in the state capital.

The hospital will be built by the Medanta group and would be known as Medanta Avadh. It will be equipped with facilities like 30 operation theatres, 300 beds for critical care, a Unani medical centre and an Ayurvedic medical centre.

The hospital would have a separate research wing as well.

Laying the foundation stone of the hospital, Yadav thanked Naresh Trehan, chairman of the Medanta Group, for its plans to set up the hospital in the state capital and pointed out that this would be Trehan's second innings in Lucknow as he had studied in the city.

The chief minister also took a dig at his political opponents and the media, saying the Samajwadi Party (SP) government would continue with its good and development-oriented work irrespective of the criticism heaped on it.

Yadav also thanked HCL chairman Shiv Nadar for investing in the IT city and said setting up of the project will lead to large-scale employment and vibrancy in the city and the state.

The IT city is to come up at an investment of Rs.1,500 crore and the project on completion would spread across 100 acres. It is likely to generate 25,000 direct new jobs and indirect employment for more than 50,000 people.

The IIIT is being set up on 50 acres at Chak Ganjariya farm in the state capital. It would be set up under the aegis of the Union government, state government and the UP Electronics Corporation Ltd.

The chief minister also said that he was hopeful that by the time the state goes to polls 2017, the projects would be completed.

IANS