New hostel to come up at AI 171 crash site: Gujarat govt

Gandhinagar: The govt said on Wednesday that the severely damaged hostel complex of the BJ Medical College, the site of the AI 171 plane crash, will be reconstructed.Officials of the state health and family welfare department said that the hostel complex will be demolished, and a new, larger complex will be built on the site at a cost of Rs 103 crore. The Tata group, the promoter of Air India, has provided Rs 53 crore for the project. "We have decided to rebuild the hostel. The Tata group had assured us that they would pay for the damage, and they have already deposited the funds they had promised," said Rajeev Topno, additional chief secretary, health and family welfare department. He was speaking to the media in Gandhinagar, along with health minister Praful Pansheriya, about budgetary allocations for the department in 2026-27. Health department's chief engineer, P M Chaudhary, said that tenders will soon be invited for the construction of a new hostel complex at the crash site. He added that construction work is expected to begin in the next few months. The present complex, which could accommodate nearly 100 students, will be pulled down, and the new hostel will have a capacity of 292 students, Chaudhary said. The hostel complex suffered extensive damage in the crash. While parts of it were hit by debris, a major portion was engulfed in fire, rendering the buildings unusable. The complex was vacated to facilitate a probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. The Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London with over 240 passengers and crew members on board, crashed shortly after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, 2025. The aircraft struck the hostel and canteen complex of the medical college. Four MBBS students and a doctor's wife were among the 260 people killed in the tragedy.