Minister rejects allegations of discrimination in funds allocation
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 13: After a two-day discussion in the House, the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Thursday passed grants for the departments of School Education, Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare, and Higher Education, totalling over Rs 27,526.40 crore.
The grants amounting Rs 1201489.52 lakh for School Education Department, Rs 881370.63 lakh for Health and Medical Education Department, Rs 450428.15 lakh for Social Welfare Department and Rs 219340.00 lakh for Higher Education Department were passed through voice vote.
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Winding up the discussion on Demands for Grants, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo, welcomed the suggestions given by the Legislators regarding functioning of the departments under her charge. She added that efforts would be stepped up to address the issues they have raised during the discussion of Demand for Grants.
While speaking regarding the School Education sector, the Minister informed the house that under UT Capex, Samagra, Rs 739 crore have been approved for infrastructure development which included new school buildings and additional class rooms.
“During the current budget, a provision of 600 ICT labs, 2000 smart classrooms and 500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) has been kept to encourage innovation and scientific temperament among the students,” she informed.
The Minister further informed that for encouraging female literacy among the SC/ST population, 89 KGBVs have been made operational, besides 85 girls hostels have been sanctioned in educationally backward blocks. Under Beti Anmol Scheme, more than 12000 BPL girl students have been covered for which an amount of Rs 7 crore has been spent, she added.
The Minister also informed the house that for the benefit of students in remote areas and students belonging to migratory population, 1859 seasonal centres are being run across J&K.
The Minister further informed that transfer policy for regularized ReT Teachers was under consideration of the Government and a decision would be taken after looking into all aspects.
While giving details about Health and Medical Education Department, the Minister informed the house that GMC Anantnag has become the first among newly established medical colleges to have a dedicated Cath Lab for South Kashmir region and a Cath lab is being made operational at GMC Jammu in a week’s time.
She said that Colonel Chopra Nursing Home at GMC Jammu has started services with state-of-the-art machinery to provide affordable and quality healthcare services to the people of Jammu. She also informed that Government Homeopathic Medical College, Kathua, has started its first batch of BHMS students (63 students) from make shift arrangements at GMC Kathua.
The Minister further informed the house that process has been initiated for establishing 250 Bedded Maternal & Child Care hospital at a cost of Rs. 86 crore at Janglat Mandi, Anantnag.
In order to strengthen the health infrastructure across Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister informed the house that some important projects are in pipeline adding that work on AIIMS Kashmir is going at a fast pace and is targeted to be completed by November 2025. She added that additional block at Bone and Joint Hospital, Srinagar, 243 bedded Labour Block at SMGS hospital, Jammu, 125 bedded District Hospital at Reshipora Budgam, construction of 100 Bedded MCH at Lamberi, Rajouri, 16 Critical Care Blocks (50 bedded – 14, 100 bedded -02) at GMCs of Baramulla, Anantnag, Rajouri, Kathua, Doda, District hospital Budgam, Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Poonch, Reasi, Udhampur, SKIMS- Bemina, CHC Kupwara and Chest Disease Hospital of GMC Jammu will be completed in due course of time. The completion of these vital projects will give a major boost to health sector, improving the patient care drastically, she said and added that telemedicine will be integrated to the health institutions.
While talking about Social Welfare Department, the Minister highlighted that during the Budget speech 2025-26, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, announced revision in pension amounts across all beneficiary categories. “To promote equity and sustainability, a graded structure has been introduced to enhance pension amounts in alignment with beneficiaries’ age groups”, she said.
She added that as per the new pension structure, the beneficiaries below 60 years will get Rs. 1,250/month; beneficiaries aged 60-79 years will receive Rs 1,500/month and beneficiaries aged 80+ years will be given Rs 2,000/month.
The Minister further informed the house that scholarships were provided to 9,668 SC students and the Government is expanding coverage to 13,000 students. She added that these scholarships cover tuition fees, maintenance allowances and hostel support for these beneficiaries to help bridge educational disparities and promote inclusive development.
In order to ensure transparency, the Minister said that 28,175 Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) have fully adopted the Poshan Tracker, which authenticated 8,99,000 Aadhaar based beneficiaries receiving supplementary nutrition.
She also informed that 2,120 Sanginis and 2,852 Sahayikas have been engaged, strengthening grassroots service delivery. She further said that 15,929 Anemia Camps have been conducted, benefiting 16,350 anemic individuals.
The Minister further said that136 AWCs in aspirational districts have been converted into Saksham AWCs and 202 more are being upgraded with infrastructure improvements. She also informed that 208 AWCs have been upgraded into Bal-Vidyalayas for holistic early childhood education and 445 are targeted for transformation this year with 69 already completed.
Replying to the cut motions on Demands for Grants, the Minister strongly rejected the allegations of discrimination with Jammu region and said that funds are allocated as per the requisitions.
“Both Jammu and Kashmir regions will get equitable treatment and their due share of funds in our Government,” she stressed.
All the cut motions were later withdrawn by the Legislators.
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