The Joshimath area is significantly important from the religious, tourism and strategic points of view but the town still lacks the desired level of medical treatment facilities. In 2014, the then Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had unveiled the foundation stone for a 50-bed capacity trauma centre in Joshimath. However, far from facilitating the establishment of this trauma centre, even the foundation stone unveiled by the previous Chief Minister is now nowhere to be seen. While the State Government claims to be undertaking various efforts to boost tourism and adventure sports, the authorities have not yet established the trauma centre in Joshimath even though land for this purpose was reported to have been identified.
It should be mentioned here that the Joshimath block is also considered to be strategically important due to the Indo-Tibet border in this region. The locals complain that politicians make various announcements while visiting Joshimath but most of these announcements are not executed. Joshimath resident Ramesh Chandra Sati, “The successive chief ministers have made various major announcements for the Joshimath region but after change in the government, the general trend is that the announcements made by the previous chief minister are put on the back burner by the incumbent Government. This prevents the effective execution of developmental schemes in the area. Till date, chief ministers have made various announcements for Joshimath including the construction of base hospital with trauma centre and herbal AYUSH university but no action has been taken yet on these issues. Even though the government order has been issued the work has not yet been started.”
The general public sentiment in Joshimath is not in favour of politicians and public representatives making major announcements for the region only to put them on the back burner. It is pertinent to mention here that provision of proper medical treatment facility is vital in Joshimath not only for the locals but also for residents of nearby areas and the large number of pilgrims and tourists arriving here. As road accidents are not uncommon in this mountainous area, those injured in mishaps are given first aid at the community health centre in Joshimath before being referred to a higher centre for treatment. With locals complaining about the Joshimath CHC becoming little more than a referral centre, the protracted delay in construction of the promised medical facilities here is also bound to have an impact on voters in the 2017 Assembly polls.