KATHUA: “North India’s first Government Homoeopathic Medical College, centrally funded at a cost of nearly Rs. 80 Crore will come up in Jasrota area of district Kathua in J&K”, announced Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh here today. While continuing his consistent spree of development even after the declaration of his mandate for Lok Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh today visited the proposed site of the college in Jasrota village, where work for the boundary wall has already started. The Minister was briefed by the engineers and senior experts from the Department of Ayush about the institution. Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated that the agenda of the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency, which was taken at hand soon after he was elected as Member of Parliament in 2014, will continue uninterrupted till the date of the declaration of election Code of Conduct and will resume immediately after the Code of Conduct is lifted. Dr Jitendra Singh expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi before whom this requisition was put, and said it was a matter of pride for the people of Kathua that North India’s first government Homoeopathic College at a cost of 70-80 crore rupees will come up here. He said the institution will be spread over an area of more than 8 acres, adding that the adjoining three acres may also be added to the existing premises in due course of time. “The proposed structure will include a hospital complex, a college, an administrative block and one hostel each for male and female students”, Dr Jitendra Singh informed. He further informed that the open space will be utilised later on for construction of an auditorium, playground, etc. Dr Jitendra Singh said, it will not only be a great boon for aspirants of Homoeopathy degree in North India, which was not available earlier, but this will also provide cost effective treatment to needy patients. “It will also be in keeping with Modi government’s healthcare approach which involves synergizing allopathic with Ayush streams of medicine, including Homoeopathy, Ayurveda and naturopathy”, the Minister added. Dr Jitendra Singh stated that the experience after Covid has further consolidated this view that traditional Indian methods of medicine and cure have a panacea value. Highlighting the medical infrastructure of Kathua built in the last ten years, Dr Jitendra Singh said the district now has a government medical college and a cancer treatment facility being provided by Tata Memorial Centre, Bombay. “The addition of a government Homoeopathic College will make Kathua an integrated and cost effective healthcare centre of North India in times to come”, he underlined. The Minister added that with this, Kathua is all set to emerge as North India’s cost-effective and state-of-the-art centre of medical facilities. Talking to media later on, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is ironically hilarious and laughable that some of the critics who from time to time deny any development having taken place in the constituency over the last 10 years are the ones who are themselves also availing of the facility of projects brought in the last 10 years. For example, the critics and the cynics who say that no development has happened are actually admitting their children in the Medical colleges and other degree colleges established in the last 10 years, he said. He said, this is a rare Lok Sabha Constituency which got three centrally funded medical colleges in the last few years. Sarcastically, Dr Jitendra Singh said, some of the critics say that nothing has happened but when they have to travel to Delhi they avail the facility of Vande Bharat Train introduced in the last five years. He said, this is a rare constituency which got two Vande Bharat trains with stoppage at both Udhampur and Kathua and this was also mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the public rally in Srinagar recently. The Express Road Corridor from Katra to Delhi, said Dr Jitndra Singh, will also become functional in next few months and six lanes of National Highway will reduce the road travel time from Kathua to Delhi to around four and half hours. His first five-year term, said Dr Jitendra Singh, was devoted to making up for the lapses of the past governments including the Shahpur Kandi project which had been held up for the last 30 years causing hardship for the people of Kathua. The second five-term, he said, was devoted to setting up new institutions like centrally funded Government Medical Colleges, first ever Seeding Processing Plant, the present Homoeopathic College etc. The next five-year term, he said, will be devoted to consolidating these gains and developing the region as North India’s most attractive destination from the point of view of education, trade, tourism and revenue. Earlier, Dr Jitendra Singh visited a congregation of Jasrota community being held in the vicinity of the under-construction college. He was accompanied by officers and DDC, Vice Chairman, Shri Raghunandan Singh, other DDC members, PRIs, BJP President Gopal Mahajan, Gen Secy Rajesh Mehta, senior leader Prem Nath Dogra, Manjeet Jasrotia and others.
