Political leaders cutting across party lines in Raiganj are batting for an AIIMS in the North Dinajpur district headquarters, reviving a long-awaited demand that dates back to when the Centre had agreed to set up an AIIMS-like facility there in 2009.
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced during a press conference at Nabanna on Saturday that the state would forward a written proposal to the Centre for multiple medical colleges across Bengal, including an AIIMS in north Bengal.
Soon after the announcement, demands started pouring in from Raiganj, with residents, social media users and political leaders asserting that the proposed AIIMS should be built in the town.
Leaders from the BJP, Congress and Trinamool Congress echoed the demand, recalling that the Centre had approved an AIIMS-style hospital for Raiganj and several other locations across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in 2009.
After being elected as the MP from Raiganj in 2024, BJP leader Kartik Chandra Pal has repeatedly lobbied with Union health minister J. P. Nadda for building the facility in the constituency.
“The chief minister has announced plans to build an AIIMS in north Bengal. Our MP has been striving for a long time and continues to strive to ensure that an AIIMS-style hospital is established in Raiganj. We are optimistic that this will be realised very soon,” said Nimai Kabiraj, president of the BJP’s North Dinajpur district committee.
District Congress general secretary, Tushar Guha, said: “It was the (Congress leader) Late Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who first envisioned this dream. Let the project actually get built first. Once it is built, we will certainly welcome it.”
Trinamool district president, Kanaiyalal Agarwal, said: “As a resident of this district, our wish is that the facility (AIIMS) be established in Raiganj."
After the then Central government first announced the plan in 2009, ₹823 crore was allocated for the proposed 960-bed hospital under PMSSY and the state government was asked to arrange the required land.
An administrative team led by erstwhile district magistrate, Sukumar Bhattacharya, had identified a plot adjacent to the National Highway in Panishala, around 6km from Raiganj town.
“Subsequently, a team from the Union health ministry led by former MP and Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi visited the identified site, inspected the location, examined its various aspects and gave it a green signal,” said a source.
A standoff regarding land acquisition soon began between the Congress at the Centre and the Left Front-led state government, the source added.
Even after the regime change in Bengal in 2011, the deadlock over land reportedly continued.
In 2018, after Deepa Dasmunsi was elected as the MP from Raiganj, a fresh movement demanding the land for the AIIMS project was launched.
Around 90 landowners in Panishala voluntarily agreed to donate land and, led by Deepa Dasmunsi, marched to the state secretariat with their land deeds.
However, the state government allegedly did not initiate the acquisition process.
The “AIIMS issue” has remained a recurring electoral plank in the district since.
A few years ago, after the state government offered land in Kalyani, the Centre shifted the project there.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Union home minister Amit Shah had promised a separate AIIMS for north Bengal while campaigning in Raiganj.
Doctors and residents of Raiganj said the town deserved priority because of the earlier approval.
“When it came to establishing an AIIMS, Raiganj was at the very top of the list. The chief minister has announced plans to build an AIIMS in north Bengal, which is excellent news. It has been our long-standing demand that this facility be located specifically in Raiganj,” said physician Shantanu Das.
Chandan Bajaj, a trader, added: “We are optimistic that the new government will give due recognition to this demand."