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| ‘My 2½ years better than ‘their’ 56’ | | CM says he has done which no regime could do | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | June 6
Enlisting education as his top priority, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that what the previous regimes could not do in 56 years was achieved by him last two and half years.
Addressing a public meeting at Dharmari and another at Banihal, the Chief Minister pointed out education was one of the topmost priority sectors for his government and ever since he assumed the responsibilities of governance in J&K he made it a point to take the fruits of education to the remote and connectivity wise backward pockets of the State. He said areas that were left unattended in terms of opening of schools and colleges were being provided the facility one after the other.
Azad said that during the past about five years, thousands of primary, high and higher secondary schools were opened and upgraded in the entire nook and corner of the State. He said this had ensured that quality and higher education was available to the people in remote areas.
In the area of higher education, the Chief Minister said the State had done exceptionally well during the past four years. He said while only 35 colleges existed in the State for the preceding 56 years, as many as 40 new degree colleges were opened by the State government during the last four years. He said one of the main achievements of the present government was to bring the college and university education out of the cities and towns to far-off areas where many promising students could not pursue higher education due to weak financial position of their families who were not able to send them to far off cities.
The Chief Minister said that in the coming three to four years the quality of education in Jammu & Kashmir would touch standards as high as in the educationally developed states of the country and mentioned distant and geographically difficult areas like Leh and Poonch where additional university campuses were set up besides Anantnag, Baramulla, Bhadarwah, Kathua and Udhampur. He said two more university campuses were announced for similarly placed areas of Kargil and Kupwara. These campuses, he said, were in addition to the main two universities of Kashmir and Jammu. He also talked about satellite campuses set up at Kishtwar, Reasi, Doda and Billawar.
The Chief Minister said that apart from education, the government efforts were concentrated on extending amenities to far flung and backward areas. He said road connectivity, healthcare expansion and power and drinking water projects initiated by the government would completely transform the rural development scenario. He said in the coming three to four years all villages in the State would be connected with roads. He said besides upgrading two main hospitals at Jammu and Srinagar to AIIMS level and upgrading 33 district and sub-district hospitals, facilities in health institutions at block, tehsil and village level are being improved. He said the Rs. 100 crore cancer hospital was also coming up at Jammu. Constructed by the Mat Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, the hospital would be completed in August this year, he said. Likewise, he said, power sector was in for a massive uplift in the State. He said 350 new road projects had been taken in hand involving a cost of Rs. 1200 crore in the State, 80% in remote areas.
Referring to the current development initiatives in Ramban and Reasi districts, the Chief Minister said that 222 and 503 education guarantee scheme centres would be soon converted into primary schools in the two districts, respectively. He said under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme, 116 primary schools were under construction in Ramban of which 41 had been completed. He said all the 7 targeted middle schools had been constructed in the district while construction of 56 of the targeted 57 additional classrooms had been completed. Two of the three block resource centres scheduled for construction in the district had also been completed, he said.
In case of Reasi district, the Chief Minister said that 45 primary schools, three middle schools, 106 additional classrooms and one block resource centre had been completed while work was apace in case of 90 primary schools, 25 middle schools, 120 additional classrooms and two block resource centres. He said a community health centre at Mahore in Reasi district was under construction at a cost of Rs. 10.81 crores. He said up-gradation of primary health centre, Ramban to community health centre was also in the process while Rs. 20 lakhs each were provided for the existing community health centres at Banihal, Batote, Gool and Ukhral in Ramban district and Katra, Reasi and Mahore in Reasi district. |
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