In parting shot,minister pushes TMC demand

Writes to Azad for relocation of AIIMS-like institute in Bengal out of Cong stronghold

After its exit from the UPA,the Trinamool Congress has decided to toughen its fight for the relocation of a proposed institute,like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS,in West Bengal opening up one more front against the Congress.

On his last day in office on Friday,as a parting shot as the Union Minister of State for Health,TMCs Sudip Bandyopadhyay wrote a letter to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad,requesting him to relocate the site of the proposed institute from Raiganj in North Bengal to Kalyani towards the South and closer to Kolkata.

The TMC has been pursuing this issue with the Centre but to no avail.

Raiganj,a traditional stronghold of Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and now the constituency of his wife,Congress MP Deepa Das Munshi,is far from major urban areas,the TMC has argued. The matter has snowballed into a political hot potato in the state amid the souring relations between the two parties. Raiganj as the location received Cabinet approval sometime back.

Sources in the TMC said they would not let this issue fall off the Centres radar and now go all out to make sure the relocation happens.

In his letter,Bandyopadhyay raised the issue of acquiring vast chunks of fertile agricultural land required for the institute. The state government feels it will be difficult to acquire vast chunks of land for the project in the fertile agricultural area and the project will not reach its full potential due to its remoteness and inaccessibility as there is shortage of trained manpower, his letter said.

The Congress has often opposed this move by Mamatas party,saying it was trying to hijack the project that would benefit an area with majority Congress support.

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The TMC feels that the Centre has been sitting over the relocation proposal deliberately. While six AIIMS-like institutes across the country are already in various advanced stages of completion,the project for West Bengal has been greatly delayed as the location could not be finalised so far, Bandyopadhyay wrote.

He also emphasized that since Health is a state subject,Azad should consider the views of the state government while deciding on the matter.