In a significant announcement over setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jammu, Union Minister for State in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday said Jammu deserves AIIMS and it would be constructed there to further upgrade the health care infrastructure in the State.
Singh, who arrived in Jammu early morning to address a Press conference to mark the first year anniversary of Union Government, tried his level best to reach out to the angry residents following continuous flip- flop over the location of AIIMS announced by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech.
Meanwhile, making this ‘categoric commitment’ to the people of Jammu, Singh also maintained we have no objection to an AIIMS coming up at any other part of the State but it will come not before it is built in Jammu.
The statement issued by Singh was well timed as it came close on the heels of unprecedented bandh call given by the AIIMS coordination committee spearheading the movement of AIIMS for Jammu.
In an indirect reference to the Congress leaders who have joined the agitation in Jammu to corner the BJP-PDP alliance Government, Singh said we have fought for the equitable development of medical health care infrastructure in the state for several years. “We will not allow any one of them to hijack the issue of AIIMS for their vested interests”.