Targets those celebrating closure of MC
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 7: Coming down heavily on those celebrating withdrawal of permission to Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College in Jammu region, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said he had directed immediate relocation of affected students in Government run institutions in their hometowns.
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The National Medical Commission’s Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) yesterday withdrew the letter of permission granted to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence Katra for non-compliance with minimum standards.
Sangharsh Samiti, a recently formed conglomerate of right-wing organisations backed by the BJP, spearheaded agitation in Jammu since November last year, demanding cancellation of admissions
“I have directed the Health Minister (Sakina Itoo) to ensure that students affected by the withdrawal of permission to the Mata Vaishno Devi Medical College are adjusted in Government Medical Colleges near their homes,” Omar told reporters after addressing a district review meeting in Samba.
He said the process should be expedited so that the students can continue their medical education and later serve the people of the region.
Asked about the Sangharsh Samiti celebrating the decision in Jammu, he asked “What is happiness about? The people in the country fight over getting the Medical Colleges and here, a struggle was waged to shut down a medical college to play with the future of J&K children.
“If destroying children’s futures gives you happiness, then burst firecrackers. This time, out of 50 seats, 40 have gone to Kashmir. After one or two years, these 50 seats would have become 400 seats. Out of those 400 seats, possibly 200 or 250 children would have been from Jammu. Tomorrow, those children will not get Medical College seats because you got the entire college shut down in the name of religion,” the Chief Minister said.
He said the children who will not get Medical College seats in future because of the closure of this Medical College should remember these “Sangharsh Samiti people forever”.
In response to a question about the meeting in Samba, he said the performance in the district has been good in terms of development and governance.
“There is a need to slightly speed up work in one or two areas. An inspection was carried out and instructions were given. I hope that by March 31, when the financial year ends, the performance of Samba district will be noticeably better compared to other districts,” Omar said.
On recent controversies over selection of players for football and cricket teams, mostly from Kashmir, Abdullah said “As far as I am concerned, I do not care what religion a player belongs to. I only care that the performance of the Jammu and Kashmir team should be good.”
He said he is meeting the U-16 cricket team which lifted the Vijay Merchant Trophy for the first time tomorrow to personally congratulate each one of them.
“I hope that in the future as well, the teams formed from here will go forward and return successful,” he said.
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