Patna (Bihar) [India]: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informing him that the Bihar government has transferred 151 acres of land free of cost to the central government for Darbhanga AIIMS, however, the central government has not been able to take a decision on site approval.
“Wrote a letter again to the Union Health Minister Shri Mandaviya ji with the expectation of taking a positive decision regarding Darbhanga AIIMS. The Bihar government has transferred 151 acres of land free of cost to the central government, but don’t know why the central government is not able to take a decision on-site approval?” read a rough translation of the Deputy Chief Minister’s message on X.
केंद्रीय स्वास्थ्य मंत्री श्री मांडविया जी को दरभंगा एम्स के संदर्भ में सकारात्मक निर्णय लेने की अपेक्षा के साथ पुन: पत्र लिखा है।
बिहार सरकार ने निःशुल्क 151 एकड़ भूमि केंद्र सरकार को हस्तांतरित की है लेकिन पता नहीं केंद्र सरकार स्थल स्वीकृति पर निर्णय क्यों नहीं ले पा रही है?… https://t.co/pAVFF7mvRv pic.twitter.com/CWWWIGeddn
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) August 20, 2023
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tejashwi Yadav further said, “Remember, respected Prime Minister has also got AIIMS opened in Darbhanga in his speeches.” The Deputy Chief Minister has also posted a draft of the letter on X.
The letter is in continuation to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Darbhanga row that has created a political rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled central governemnt and the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar.
In the letter, Tejashwi Yadav said that the identified site for AIIMS is located just three kilometres from the East-West Corridor and only five kilometres from the AIIMS-Darbhanga four-lane road and only 10 kilometres from Darbhanga airport. This will make it easy for patients to reach the hospital as it will take less time, he added.
Secondly, he stated that developing AIIMS outside the city will lead to the development of new areas outside Darbhanga. Moreover, people from North Bihar, Mithila and Nepal will get access to special treatment facilities, he said adding that by separating Darbhanga Medical College Hospital and AIIMS, both hospitals will be able to develop as specialist hospitals.
Tejashwi Yadav added that land is no longer available in the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. This is because the state government has approved a plan of Rs 3,115 crore to redevelop Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital as a 2500-bed hospital.
In the letter, the Deputy Chief Minister appealed to the central government to accept the proposal of the plot that has been proposed by the Bihar government, highlighting the fact that most AIIMS hospitals have been set up as greenfield projects.
Earlier on Saturday, in continuation to the Darbhanga AIIMS row, Janata Dal (United) President Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh said that the central government does not want to construct an AIIMS in Bihar’s Darbhanga, and accused it of only ‘doing politics over it’.
“The central government does not want to construct AIIMS in Darbhanga and just wants to just do politics over it. Bihar CM has also expressed that AIIMS medical college should be constructed in Darbhanga. The state government sanctioned land for the construction but they do not want to construct AIIMS,” Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh said while speaking to media.
