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| Jitendra promises 'first' AIIMS in Jammu; gives no roadmap, timeline | | Pot kept boiling! | | Early Times Report
jammu, June 4: Union Minister of state for the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh today again refused to make a clear statement on the establishment of All-India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Jammu.
Though he reiterated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stand that All-India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) will be established first in Jammu and then in the Kashmir Valley but did not elaborate on how the same would be possible when it has been clearly stated in the agenda for alliance that AIIMS would be established in Kashmir.
He did refer to history and said that Jammu has struggled too much for Medical College and should now not be denied an AIIMS like institution. After the change of guard at the Centre, the Congress government did not carry the project forward and the building was later converted into Super Speciality Hospital, he said. "The history of struggle for AIIMS is very old. It goes to the period of late 1960s when medical college Srinagar was set up and later after the struggle by people of Jammu, a medical college was also set up along with Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in 1975 as SKIMS was itself an AIIMS type institute", he said.
"We have struggled for the last 60 years and now that we are in power, we would not allow anyone to snatch what is genuine and justified for Jammu region," said the Union Minister while reminding various senior Journalists about his association with them. He said that BJP would not allow anyone to mislead the people or hijack its issue.
He said that ex-Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Sushma Swaraj, who is now Foreign Affairs Minister had even laid foundation stone of the AIIMS like hospital in Jammu during the last BJP-led NDA government but after the Congress-led UPA took over, the project was not only shelved but kept in the oblivion.
"An exercise in this regard has already started and I have spoken to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also. An avoidable controversy has been created. We want to unite and not divide the people," Jitendra Singh said. It needs to be reiterated here that Chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who is the patron of BJP's coalition partner in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has repeatedly been saying the single AIIMS hospital allocated to Jammu and Kashmir will be set up in the Valley.
However, the issue, like many others in the recent weeks, has snowballed into a row with both PDP and BJP talking into different voices over it. Singh said that BJP and PDP, despite their ideological differences, formed the government after sidestepping on some core ideological issues. He added that the saffron party wouldn't now allow the PDP to push its ideological agenda while continuing to be in alliance.
Security agencies should have the last word on revocation of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir instead of any political functionary, Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said on Thursday amid demands, including by ruling PDP, for withdrawal of the controversial law from the state.
"The last word on revoking AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) should come from the security agencies," he told reporters here. "If the security agencies feel that there is an improvement in the situation or this is not the right time for revocation of AFSPA in Jammu and Kashmir, that should suffice and we should not create an issue time and again," Singh said.
He was replying to a question on the demand for revocation of AFSPA in the state from some quarters, including PDP which is ruling the state along with BJP. "These questions hardly need to be answered and my stand on this is consistent over the years. I am not qualified to answer this question," said Singh, who is a senior BJP leader from the state.
He said he has always believed and "that is my consistent point of view that this is a subject where the last word should come from the security agencies. Any political functionary on any of the highest post can provide suggestions on the issue but cannot be a deciding factor."
There have been demands for revocation of AFSPA from Jammu and Kashmir, particularly after it was done in Tripura recently. On the issue of raising of Pakistani flags in Kashmir and hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's statement advocating it, the minister said, "Union Home Ministry and Government of India have made it clear that nobody has the right to wave Pakistani flags and incite masses.
"We cannot tolerate such acts. We have been assured of appropriate action against those elements so that these things are not repeated again and again," he said. He claimed that New Delhi has not stopped funds for Jammu and Kashmir Government and it has been releasing the funds for flood victims in phased manner. "There is no dearth of funds. Union Government is releasing what is being demanded by the states. We are releasing funds for the flood victims of state in phased manner.
If these funds have not reached to victims then it is worrisome and should be looked into," he said. "PM Modi is concerned and deeply interested in Jammu and Kashmir and that is why he frequently visited the State. Even during flood fury he arrived here to assess the situation and as a matter of fact, our government will leave no stone unturned in dragging out the people of the state from the miseries. Central Government is committed to help State Government at all fronts," he said.
Speaking about the attacks by some Sikhs in Jammu, he said: "Union government doesn't have dual policies. When (Pakistani) flags are waved in Kashmir law takes its own course. Same way, we have given the state government a day to act in Jammu against those who stabbed police official and created law and order problem there. If they fail, we will act," he said.
Dr Singh said that the biggest achievement of the government so far has been that the reputation of the country at the international level has received a boost. He said that leading countries of the world acknowledge that India is on the way to becoming the next major force at the global level, and this change about the international perception of India has been possible because of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. |
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