Political Correspondent
JAMMU: A number of BJP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, who had shown the people of Jammu province their rightful place and ridiculed them by saying that no power on earth can “snatch AIIMS from Kashmir” and charged India with using the State land and water, are repeatedly claiming that the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA Government had sanctioned an All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institute for Jammu. They are also desperately trying to give the agitating people of Jammu province to understand that the Congress and the National Conference hatched a conspiracy against Jammu and scuttled the Central Government’s proposal. Besides, they are demanding a probe in the whole issue so that the anti-Jammu forces are exposed.
These BJP leaders are only seeking to mislead the people of Jammu province, who have been demanding AIIMS for their region, saying that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced AIIMS for Jammu, and not for Kashmir, and that even MoS in the PMO Jitendra Singh had stated in Kathua last month that the “AIIMS was always meant for Jammu”. Did the Vajpayee Government ever sanction AIIMS for Jammu as is being claimed by the BJP leaders? What is the truth?
The truth, according to a very senior retired civil servant, who held important positions in the Jammu and Kashmir Government, is that Prime Minister Vajpayee did announce in 2004 in his Independence-Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort that six new AIIMS will be established in six different states, but “Jammu and Kashmir’s name was not there”. He also revealed that the “then Finance Minister followed the announcement in his Vote on Account speech in Lok Sabha on February 3, 2004” and had said: “Specialty hospitals in the private sector remain beyond the reach of many of our citizens. The Prime Minister had, therefore, on last Independence-Day, announced the establishing of six hospitals, in the government sector, on the pattern of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). This ‘Pradhanmantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’ (PMSSY) envisages six new AIIMS like hospitals, one each in the States of Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttaranchal. Hon’ble Members are doubtless aware that no additional hospital on the pattern of AIIMS has been set up by any government, since 1956. I would also like to mention that under this Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, one medical college each in the six States of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal will also be upgraded to the level of AIIMS”. From the revelations, this retired civil servant has made it is clear that Jammu and Kashmir was not sanctioned AIIMS and that only one Government Medical College in Jammu and Kashmir was to be upgraded by creating super specialties to the level of AIIMS.
The said retired civil servant has made another startling revelation. He has revealed that “after coming to power in April 2004, the UPA delayed the scheme and did not earmark any funds in 2004-05 budget for the AIIMS campuses proposed by the NDA” and that the “PMSSY was included in 2005-06 budget and formally launched in March 2006”. “It aimed”, according to him, to “correct the imbalances in the affordable healthcare facilities in the different parts of the country in general, and augmenting facilities for quality medical education in the under-served States in particular”.
The Congress-led UPA Government had, it needs to be underlined, announced that six AIIMS-like institutions will be established at “Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chattisgarh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and Rishikesh Uttaranchal) at a cost of Rs 840 crore per institution”. Sometime later, “Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh) and Raiganj (West Bengal) were also added”. These States were identified, as per the retired civil servant, “on the basis of various socio-economic indicators like human development index, literacy rate, population below poverty line and per capital income and health indicators like population to bed ratio, prevalence rate of serious communicable diseases, infant mortality rate etc”.
The former bureaucrat has made yet another revelation. According to him, “against six (Government Medical Colleges) announced by the NDA, the UPA sanctioned 13 Government Medical Colleges, two in Jammu and Kashmir, for extensive up-gradation by creating super specialties at the cost of Rs. 120 crore”. He further revealed that the “AIIMS Act of 1956 was amended in 2012 to include eight new AIIMS”.
All these revelations must call the BJP’s bluff and establish that the local BJP leaders are making false statements to hoodwink the people of Jammu province, who seem determined to get for their region AIIMS.
