Raiganj BJP MP Kartick Chandra Paul wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, seeking the state’s cooperation to establish a hospital of the standards of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raiganj.

Paul, who disclosed the content of the letter on Thursday, said he had already taken up the demand with Union health minister J.P. Nadda.

“He (Nadda) has specifically told me that such projects are jointly executed by the state and the Centre. He also said if any proposal came from the state’s side, his ministry and the central government would consider it. That is why I have written to the chief minister with a request that the state send the proposal to the authorities concerned,” said the MP.

Paul, who was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time, raked up an old demand of the residents of Raiganj and the Uttar Dinajpur district as a whole.

In 2009, the then UPA government at the Centre announced that an AIIMS standard hospital would come up in North Dinajpur. The central government also said ₹823 crore would be spent on the hospital which would have around 960 beds.

The state took the initiative and a plot was identified at Panishala, a locality that is around 6km from Raiganj, the district headquarters.

Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the then Union minister and Raiganj MP, took the initiative for the project and central teams visited the site. However, when the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, the project suffered and eventually, the state provided land at Kalyani in Nadia district where the AIIMS has come up.

Since then, political parties like the BJP and the Congress have been accusing the TMC of taking away the project to Kalyani and depriving the residents of Raiganj and north Bengal as a whole.

Paul, while campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, had said he would take the initiative to establish a similar hospital in Raiganj.

“That is why I have communicated with the Union health minister. Our Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya had also raised the issue in Parliament. It was made clear by central ministers that they had not received any proposal from the state. We want the chief minister to act and see that a proposal is sent to the Centre,” said the MP.

Raiganj TMC MLA Krishna Kalyani said the Centre should first announce it would set up an AIIMS-like hospital in Raiganj. “The state will then take necessary steps. The MP should get the approval and let me assure you that the state will extend all cooperation to earmark land for the project,” said Kalyani.