STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Asserting that IIM was announced in 2015 for Jammu alone, Harsh Dev Singh, JKNPP Chairman and former Minister, on Friday questioned as to how and when has the provision for an out campus in Kashmir been incorporated within the same proposal.
He reminisced that announcement for IIM for Jammu was made during union Budget session in 2015 without any mention having been made for Kashmir campus in the said proposal. He claimed that PM’s package of Rs. 80,000 crore announced in Nov, 2015 further made a provision of Rs. 1,000 crore for IIM for Jammu alone. He however expressed his dismay that when the final approval was given by the competent authority, the said IIM grant stood divided with an out campus to be established in Kashmir also.
He said that though people of Jammu did not oppose IIM for Kashmir but the part diversion of funds originally meant for Jammu IIM to Kashmir was highly preposterous and obnoxious. Lamenting the appeasement policy persistently followed by centre and State Government towards Kashmir, Harsh said that Jammu was still being taken for granted even by the incumbent BJP-PDP Government. He said that even the present government’s extreme love for a highly pampered Kashmir became evident from the present episode when it announced IIM out campus for Kashmir without any prior deliberations and without any demand having ever emanated from Kashmir region for the same. He pointed out that when Rs. 2,100 crore AIIMS was announced for Kashmir, the GoI as well as the State Government refused to entertain the grievance of Jammuites until a full scale agitation was launched with the BJP Dy. CM even going to the extent of making a statement that no one can snatch AIIMS from Kashmir.
He said that similar was the situation when central university was announced for Kashmir and the people of Jammu region had to take to streets and launched a full throttle campaign for the establishment of said institute in Jammu. He regretted that while the people of Jammu region had to struggle everytime for availing their basic rights, a highly mollycoddled Kashmir was offered everything on platter even if it meant divesting the Jammu region of its bonafide share and legitimate claims.
Seeking the establishment of full-fledged IIM in Jammu and utilization of the entire Rs. 1,000 crore grant in Jammu, Singh said that Kashmir could be given a separate IIM if the Centre and State Governments were so particular about Kashmir. He further called for reservation of a fixed number of seats in IIM Jammu for local students as All India level competition for admissions in the for the said courses would not confer any advantage to Jammu and its students despite the location of the institute in Jammu. He further castigated the government for showing five medical colleges provided by Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2013-14 as its own gift to the State.
