STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Over 500 Panthers Party activists led by Chairman JKNPP, Harsh Dev Singh staged a demonstration near the Parliament seeking restoration of AIIMS to Jammu.
The procession was stopped by a heavy contingent of Delhi Police who put up huge barricades on the road in front of the Parliament street Police Station. The protesters raised slogans against the Coalition Government of J and K, Central Government and pro Jammu slogans. Later, they were arrested by the Delhi Police and lodged in Parliament Street Police Station, New Delhi.
State President, Balwant Singh Mankotia; State President, Young Panthers, Yashpaul Kundal were also joined the protest.
Addressing the protesters, Harsh said that JKNPP shall continue its peaceful protests and agitations till AIIMS was restored to Jammu through a formal order issued by the authorities concerned. He said that while the Panthers Party would not question the wisdom of AIIMS Coordination Committee which comprised of intellectuals, educations and other prominent notables in calling off the 72 hour Jammu Bandh and in suspending the agitation on the assurance of Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh, the JKNPP did not trust the Saffron Party which has repeatedly taken U-turns on all its fundamentals only to remain glued to power.
Singh said JKNPP would continue its fight for Jammu and had therefore organised a massive march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament House to create awareness at the national level regarding the bias perpetuated against Jammu region by the present dispensation of BJP-PDP in J and K State. He said that it was not merely a matter of AIIMS for Jammu but the larger question of the self respect and pride of Jammu people. He said that it was highly distressing that Jammu people were always treated as B-class citizens as against highly pampered and mollycoddled Kashmir region.
Warning the BJP to desist from its lame duck posturing, Singh said that JKNPP would not relent till AIIMS was restored to Jammu through a formal order on the subject.
Mankotia further sought early creation of infrastructure & operationalization of medical colleges in Kathua, Doda, Rajouri besides establishment of a new medical college at Udhampur. He further sought allocation of adequate funds for the already sanctioned cancer Institute at Udhampur.
Others who addressed the gathering include Pushvinder Singh Manhas, Pavan Dev Singh, Sudesh Dogra, Sham Gorkha, Rajesh Padgotra, Yashpaul Singh Manhas, Dharam Singh, Karnail Singh, Baldev Singh, Mohan Lal Gupta, B.S Billowria, Advocate, Romesh Khajuria, Sanjay Verma, Dhani Ram Attri, Vishav Dev Singh, Kuldip Singh and Sukhjit Singh.
