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Virtually shutting the door on any possible move in future to shift the secretariat back to Omandurar estate, chief minister. J. Jayalalithaa announced, on Friday, the decision to convert a portion of the new complex, built by the DMK government for Rs.1,200 crore, into a multi superspecialty hospital on par with AIIMS in New Delhi.

Another chunk of the complex would be utilised for establishing a new government medical college.
“The new Assembly-secretariat complex, built by the previous DMK regime, will be put to good use. Necessary changes will be made in block `A', measuring about 97,829 sq metres area, and converted into a multi super-specialty hospital on par with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, to provide high quality, free medical service to the poor and downtrodden,“ said Ms Jayalalithaa, silencing her critics who blamed her for willfully abandoning the DMK's prized project.

She said, amidst continuous thumping of desks by all political parties barring the DMK which continued its boycott that a new governmen medical college would come up in block `B' which is under construc tion. Immediately after her announcement Speaker D. Jayakumar thanked Ms Jayalalithaa for sanctioning the pro jects.

Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, Ms Jayalalithaa reiterated her government's deci sion not to shift the secre tariat to Omandurar estate since it lacked suf ficient space to accommo date over 36 governmen departments. After storming to power in May, the AIADMK gov ernment started function ing from the historica Fort St. George. It even appointed a one-man com mission to probe allega tions of wasteful expendi ture and poor quality con struction in the new com plex. `1,200 cr project to turn hospital Block A will be convert ed into a multi super specialty hospital Block B will be made into a government medical college The new complex will be the AIIMS of Chennai, providing high quality medical services to the poor.