Sushil Modi flays Bihar govt on 2nd AIIMS land

Patna: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today made a scathing attack at the Nitish Kumar government for failing to make available 200-acre of land for setting up a second AIIMS in Bihar despite repeated pleas made by the Centre in the past two years.

“Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced a second AIIMS for Bihar in his budget speech in 2015-16. Since then the Union Health Minister wrote more than half-a-dozen letters to Bihar government to make available 200-acre of land properly linked with road, power and water,” Modi said in a statement here.

But the state government has not replied to any of these letters, he claimed.

“In a bid to further complicate the matter, the Bihar government is now asking the Union ministry to select a district for second AIIMS even while the responsibility of selection of district and making available land is of state government,” he added.

The Centre would bear the expenditure on setting up another AIIMS and its running in Bihar, Modi said.

A former deputy chief minister of the state, the BJP leader alleged that the state government was not interested in starting of another super speciality hospital and college in the state since it would give credit to Prime Minister.

He asked the Bihar government not to politicise the development work and select the land in 3-4 optional places for setting up a second AIIMS in Bihar which would benefit the people.