Tamilnadu Hospitals
TAMILNADU GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS
Attempts to build a new assembly complex dates back to 1983 when M. G. Ramachandran was the chief minister. He floated the idea of constructing an assembly complex in front of Marina beach and even moving to Tiruchirappalli during severe water scarcity in Chennai city. The idea was later revived again in 2002 when J. Jayalalithaa was the chief minister. She announced in the Assembly that the government was considering a 2,000-acre administrative city near Maamallapuram. Later it was stated that the proposed city would come up in Thiruvidanthai and Thaiyur villages, about 40 km south of Chennai. In January 2003, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) signed an agreement with the Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia for a feasibility study of the administrative city project. Subsequently, Jayalalithaa informed the Assembly that as the proposed administrative city would take 15 to 25 years to build, the Secretariat would be shifted to a vacant space opposite the Marina Beach in two years. Originally, the Lady Willingdon College campus was chosen. But, since the area (about 15 acres) of the campus was found inadequate, she came up with the proposal of building a new Integrated Assembly building in the 30-acre Queen Mary's College, Chennai campus, which she announced in April 2003. But this was dropped due to opposition from the political parties and the students of the concerned college.
Five months later, the government decided to establish the Secretariat over an extent of 43 acres in Kotturpuram that belonged to Anna University, the Madras University and the State Government Data Centre. The CMDA was entrusted with the work of selecting the architect and the construction agency apart from being authorised to mobilise funds. It was reported that M. K. Stalin, at the time of this proposal, went to the college and supported the student's strike. In October that year, Jayalalithaa laid the foundation stone for the project. Seven months later, there was rethinking on the project.
In May 2007, when the Assembly organised celebrations to mark the completion of 50 years of association of the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the legislature, the idea of constructing the Assembly-Secretariat complex was mooted. Karunanidhi laid the foundation stone in June 2008 and the site was formally handed over to the contractors five months later.
The building, constructed as a legislative assembly complex, was inaugurated on 13 March 2010 by the then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. The construction was still incomplete at the time of its inauguration. A temporary dome was constructed at a cost of ₹ 30 million for the inauguration of the complex. The temporary dome was later dismantled to give way for a permanent dome, to be built at a cost of ₹ 250 million. A 3,200-sq.-ft. fully air-conditioned canteen to accommodate 200 people too was planned on the third floor of the complex's 'A' block.
Abandonment and conversion to hospital :
The last session in the old assembly building at Fort St. George was held on 11 January 2010 by the former DMK government. When the AIADMK government came to power in May 2011, it abandoned the building and moved back to the former legislative building, Fort St. George. On 19 August 2011, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced in the state legislative assembly that the A-Block in new Secretariat complex, built by the previous DMK regime, would be converted into a multi-super specialty hospital and B-Block would be constructed as a government medical college. Work to convert the building to a multi-speciality hospital began in February 2013 following National Green Tribunal's approval. Modifications were made to suit the needs of the hospital
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