Congress demands AIIMS for Jammu, holds Dhrana

The Congress on Monday held a protest outside Raj Bhavan Jammu, hitting out at the BJP-led Central government for “denying” Jammu region an AIIMS and sanctioning the premier medical institute only for the Valley.
Led by Congress state senior Vice-President and former Minister Sham Lal Sharma and Congress Legislative Party Leader Nawang Rigzin Jora, over 200-300 workers and leaders sat on a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan. They shouted anti-BJP and anti-government slogans over “denial” of AIIMS to Jammu region by BJP-led Central government and PDP-led state government and termed the saffron party as “traitor” of Jammu region.
Hitting out at BJP-led Central government, he charged Minister of State in PMO Dr Jitendra Singh for “misleading” and “deceiving” the people of Jammu on the issue. “He was on record having announced that AIIMS has been sanctioned for Jammu. Soon after Union Finance Minister finished his speech in Lok Sabha, Dr Singh walked up to his seat and thanked him for having sanctioned an AIIMS for Jammu and IIT and IIM for J&K in the budget,” Sharma alleged.
“People of the region feel cheated of the reversal of the said decision and denial of the facility to Jammu region which could have benefited people of neighbouring states and over one crore pilgrims and people visiting the state annually,” he said.
“We are not against the Kashmir region for grant of AIIMS, but we want that Jammu should also be given an AIIMS because it has a large population from various areas of the region particularly Kashmir and Ladakh besides over one crore pilgrims and tourists during the winter season,” he said.