The Bihar government is yet to take a decision on the Darbhanga district magistrate’s proposal to shift the site of the proposed AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in the town to the campus of a defunct factory at Hayaghat on the outskirts, a top health official said.
On September 15, 2020, the Union cabinet had granted approval to Bihar’s second AIIMS at Darbhanga, after the one in Patna, to be built within four years at a cost of ₹1,264 crore on 200 acres of land belonging to the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
However, on December 29 last year, senior RJD leader and former MLA Bhola Yadav, said to be confidant of party chief Lalu Yadav, hinted at a press conference that chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy CM and health minister Tejashwi Yadav had given their consent to a decision to relocate proposed AIIMS on a portion of land on the premises of now defunct Ashok Paper Mills (APM) at Hayaghat, 12 kilometres from Darbhanga town, which sprawls over an area of around 400 acres.
The factory, once jointly owned by the governments of Assam and Bihar, and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), has been lying defunct since 1990s.
When contacted, additional chief secretary (health), Pratyay Amrit, no decision has so far been taken on the matter.
“We have already handed over 80 acres of DMCH land. Now, a proposal has been received from district magistrate (DM) of Darbhanga regarding the use of 150 acres of APM land for the purpose, which is being examined at the government level. It will not be easy for vehicles entering Darbhanga city to go AIIMS at its currently proposed site given the traffic chaos,” he said.
Darbhanga DM Rajiv Raushan, when asked whether works related to AIIMS project at the DMCH had been stopped, said “he had no idea”.
Executive director (ED) of AIIMS at Darbhanga, Dr Madhvanand Kar, said, “I have got nothing in writing on the matter.”
Asked if the proposed AIIMS will be constructed on only 150 acres of land instead of 200 acres as approved by the state cabinet earlier, Dr Kar pleaded ignorance. “I was sent here to execute Centre’s work to facilitate construction of Bihar’s second AIIMS at Darbhanga. I am not involved in decisions to be taken by the central and the state governments,” he said.
According to Dr Kar, the state government was supposed to transfer 200 acres of DMCH land in two phases — 75 acres by October 2021 and rest by December 2021. Following his meetings chief secretary after he assumed charge here as ED in August 2022, 81 acres was transferred for the proposed AIIMS by the state government.
DMCH principal Dr KN Mishra too said he had no knowledge of proposed relocation of the AIIMS site.
At his rally at Paru in Muzaffarpur on January 3, BJP president J P Nadda had flagged hurdles in construction of AIIMS at Darbhanga due to “delay in land transfer”.
“When I was union health minister, I had requested Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar 4-5 times to allot land for the construction of Darbhanga AIIMS. Recently, 81 acres of land has been transferred by the government with great difficulty. We, however, need 200 acres of land. We will have to arrange for it in order to move forward,” he had said, accusing the Bihar government of dragging the process of land transfer.
Meanwhile, RJD district unit president Umesh Rai said “AIIMS should be built anywhere, but not on DMCH land”.