Maharashtra will soon have two air ambulances for emergency situations, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis signing an MoU with MAB Aviation to that effect on Wednesday during the ongoing “Make in I
Maharashtra will soon have two air ambulances for emergency situations, with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis signing an MoU with MAB Aviation to that effect on Wednesday during the ongoing “Make in India” event. The CM has also signed a few MoUs with companies in retail and housing and claimed investment of Rs 800,000 crore thus far.
“Ours is the first state in the country to have facility of air ambulances. This will not only help in emergency situations but patients can also be brought here from abroad for treatment. The air ambulances will be functional from August this year,” Mr Fadnavis told reporters after signing the MoUs.
Elaborating on the concept, MD of MAB Aviation, Mandar Bharde, said Aurangabad and Nagpur were the two locations identified by the company to station the air ambulances. “It is difficult to get help in semi-urban and rural areas and hence, we are focusing those regions. We have a bigger plan to have 10 air ambulances from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, each at a distance of 500 km. We can also bring patients from other countries here. In an emergency situation like Uttarakhand, the air ambulance can save lives,” said Mr Bharde.
Among other MoUs signed by Mr Fadnavis is one for development of a city near Khalapur where farmers have given 10,000 acre land to the state for the purpose. “The farmers will be stakeholders in the land development. This is the first time that they have volunteered for the development of the city,” said Mr Fadnavis.
He also said that the state government has signed MoUs to the tune of Rs 800,000 crore till Wednesday in retail, housing and other sectors. “We have just approved our retail policy and received tremendous response to it. Many retailers have come forward and signed MoUs with us. That includes Vodafone. Dmart, Metr Shops etc. Also, some companies have shown interest in constructing affordable housing in Mumbai as well as MMR. We are confident that four to five lakh affordable houses can be built with participation from private players,” he said.
It is learnt that MCHI – CREDAI is one of the private players that has signed an MoU for housing. It has committed to 5.69 lakh affordable housing units at an estimated investment of Rs 110,000 crore in 2016.
