Reports about more locations in Kerala being considered for the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for the State have led to objections from different quarters in Kozhikode.

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] launched an agitation a few weeks ago demanding that the State government prefer Kinalur in the district as its location, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has also jumped on the bandwagon now.

The CPI’s Balussery area committee is holding a protest demonstration at Vattoli Bazar on Thursday (August 6, 2026). The party’s district executive said the reported move by the government to propose Kottayam as a possible location was deplorable. The Left Democratic Front government had already identified around 250 acres in Kinalur and Kanthalad villages for the institute. The party functionaries said the latest move should be seen as an insult to the people of Kinalur who expressed their willingness to give up their land. Around 150 acres in the custody of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation had been handed over to the Directorate of Medical Education. Procedures to acquire another 100 acres from residents were complete too.

The CPI leaders claimed that a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from the State, including Union Minister Suresh Gopi, were trying to lobby for locations such as Alappuzha. CPI district secretary P. Gavas demanded that Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan and MLAs from the district clarify their stand on the issue.

Meanwhile, functionaries of the Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry said at a press conference on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) that the Kerala High Court had earlier asked the Union government to conduct a feasibility study at Kinalur, which showed the importance of the location. They said Kinalur was an ideal site in view of the good road, rail and air connectivity and proximity to tertiary healthcare institutions such as the Government Medical College, Kozhikode. Setting up AIIMS at Kinalur would help around two crore people from districts such as Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur, Kasaragod, and Palakkad and also Lakshadweep. It would boost the healthcare sector in north Kerala, chamber president A.P. Abdullakutty said.

Since the State government had already made progress in land acquisition at Kinalur, there was no point in going for other locations for the institute, he added. The chamber functionaries claimed that avoiding Kinalur was akin to neglecting the developmental aspirations of the Malabar region. Mr. Abdullakutty said the chamber leaders would meet Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Health Minister K. Muraleedharan to highlight their concerns.

Published - August 05, 2026 07:37 pm IST