People of Jammu region seething with anger: AIIMS CC

Excelsior Correspondent

Jammu, July 2: People across Jammu region are seething with anger, as the biased political class snatched from Jammu the sanctioned AIIMS for the region. This was stated by the chairman of the AIIMS Coordination Committee (ACC) and president JKHCBA, Jammu, Abhinav Sharma, while talking to reporters here today.
He said the ongoing movement for the establishment of AIIMS is a pan-Jammu region movement and people cutting across political affiliations have joined it to defend the genuine cause of Jammu. The members of the ACC have fanned across the region to educate public opinion and the movement has been evoking a tremendous response from all the districts of the region, he added.
He said that the ACC is committed to making the ongoing movement a grand success and achieving both of its goals, setting up of AIIMS in Jammu and an early completion of the Tawi artificial lake project. President of Amar Khastriya Rajput Sabha Narain Singh, former president of JKHCBA, Jammu, Bhupinder Singh Slathia and Prof Hari Om returned to Jammu only the other day after touring Rajouri, Poonch and parts of Ramban, Kishtwar and Doda districts, he further said.
Narain Singh said that he, along with former Bar president BS Slathia and Prof Hari Om, toured Rajouri and Poonch districts for two days and interacted with hundreds of leading civil society members drawn from all walks of life and communities and explained the circumstances under which the ACC came into being and why Jammu needed AIIMS. They urged the people of Poonch and Rajouri district to remain vigilant and not go by the mischievous propaganda unleashed by the protagonists of Greater Kashmir, Greater Autonomy and self-rule that Jammu region was heterogeneous to divide the Jammu society on religious and ethnic lines. The vested interests in Kashmir would pit people of Poonch, Rajouri and erstwhile Doda district against others in Jammu region to weaken the ongoing movement for the establishment of AIIMS. We have to work together and defeat the anti-Jammu forces in the Valley. “We they asked the civil society members in Poonch and Rajouri to fully back the Coordination Committee, he added.
The response the ACC evoked from both the districts was tremendous. All in one voice extended support to the ACC and reassured that they would work in unison with the ACC and see to it that the proposed AIIMS was established in Jammu, he said, adding that the plight of the people of Poonch and Rajouri districts is pathetic, as there exist no civic amenities worth its name in this border belt. They expressed shock and took to task the authorities for their failure to repair the damaged bridge that links Poonch town with the rest of the world. The people of Poonch city have been left at the mercy of God, he said, adding that medical facilities in the government hospitals and dispensaries were virtually non-existent and the people of these two districts, like the people of the remaining eight districts in Jammu region, are fending for themselves, as the attitude of the authorities towards the region is both negative and hostile.The ACC members asserted that people across the region would be up in arms against the authorities in case they failed to keep their June 18 promise that necessary orders for the establishment of AIIMS in Jammu would be issued by the Government of India on or before July 20. There will be revolt in Jammu region against the authorities. The ball is in their court. We believe in Constitutional method of agitation. The authorities would be responsible if things assume alarming proportions in the region. The ACC members said, adding that ACC hoped that the authorities would read writing on the ball and act before it is too late. BS Slathia, who also toured Kishtwar for the purpose, emphasized the need for maintaining the territorial integrity of Jammu region. He said unity and integrity of Jammu region has to be maintained if the people of the region wished to defeat the anti-Jammu forces and achieve their objective.

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