Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav intensified the controversy over the proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga by shooting off another missive to Union health minister Mansukh L. Mandaviya and bringing Nepal into it.

“Having the AIIMS outside Darbhanga city will facilitate the city’s expansion and development of new areas. It will provide high-level medical treatment facilities to the people of north Bihar, Mithilanchal and Nepal,” the Bihar health minister said in the letter to Mandaviya.

Although Yadav wrote the letter — a copy of which is with The Telegraph — on August 14, he made it public on Sunday. He has requested the Union health minister to quickly approve the construction of the AIIMS at the site provided by the Bihar government for the sake of the people.

Yadav, who holds the health portfolio as well, reminded Mandaviya in the letter about not receiving any reply to his previous letter written on June 22 in which he had requested him to reconsider the state government’s alternative proposal to the Centre to set up AIIMS Darbhanga at the land provided along Ekmi–Shobhan bypass in Bahadurpur circle of the district.

The state government has earmarked 152 acres of land for the AIIMS of which it has transferred 114 acres “free of cost” to the Centre and has approved Rs 309 crore for soil filling at the site.

Pointing out that the proposed site is just 3km from the East-West Corridor, 5km from Amas (Gaya)-Darbhanga four-lane road and 10km from Darbhanga airport, Yadav argued that the patients will spend less time reaching the place.

“I politely request you to quickly approve the construction of AIIMS Darbhanga at the site proposed by the Bihar government in the interest of the people and to strengthen medical facilities in the state. As per my knowledge, most of the AIIMS constructed in the country have been greenfield projects,” Yadav wrote in the latest letter.

Yadav also told Mandaviya that land for the AIIMS was no longer available at the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) — where land was previously offered to the Centre — as the state government has plans to redevelop it as a 2,500-bed hospital at a cost of Rs 3,115 crore. The process for inviting tenders is going on in this regard.