The Bihar government has finally begun the process of shifting the site of the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Darbhanga, the state’s second after Patna, away from the campus of Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) to Shobhan, 12 kilometres west of the divisional headquarter town, officials familiar with the development said.
According to a notification issued by the district administration on February 1, Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), a think-tank supported by the state government, has been engaged to conduct a social impact assessment (SIA) within 45 days.
Darbhanga district magistrate (DM) Rajiv Raushan said on Tuesday that the process was started following a requisition sent to the district by the state’s health department.
The SIA is for the acquisition of 36.27 acres of land in Bahardurpur circle of the district. For an AIIMS, a minimum of 150 acres of land is required. An official, not willing to be identified, said the state government already owns land in the area to meet the shortfall, though it could not be immediately verified.
During the social impact assessment, public hearings will be held and a list of families to be affected by the proposed land acquisition and to be rehabilitated will be prepared.
On January 12 this year, chief minister Nitish Kumar had announced in Darbhanga that state government had decided to shift site for proposed AIIMS in Darbhanga away from the DMCH campus to a better location.
Meanwhile, a top state government official said 150 acres of land for the proposed AIIMS will be handed over to the Centre within three months.
Project stuck for years
The project has been a non-starter since the union government included it in its budget for fiscal 2015-16.
On September 15, 2020, the union cabinet granted approval to the 750-bed AIIMS in Darbhanga, to be built at an estimated fund of ₹1,264 crore on 200 acres of land at the sprawling DMCH campus.
A year later, in November 2021, Bihar cabinet gave its nod to the project.
However, at a review meeting in December 2021 held at DMCH, CM Kumar announced to retain 77 acres for DMCH out of its total 227 acres while asserting that 150 acres will be allotted for AIIMS.
In September 2022, the state government even handed over 81 acres in the first phase. Several government offices, a bank branch and doctors’ quarters were even evacuated and demolished on the DMCH campus to facilitate AIIMS construction. Earth filling work at a cost of nearly ₹13 crore was completed before the chief minister announced that the location will be shifted, an official familiar with the matter said.
The decision to relocate the project was met with fierce resistance by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition in Bihar.
Its state unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal, leader of Opposition in legislative assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha, leader of Opposition in legislative council Samrat Choudhury and local BJP MP Gopal Jee Thakur had led a foot march in the town against the decision.
