Harsimrat hits out at Congress over AIIMS

BATHINDA: Union food processing industry minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal hit out at the Congress government in Punjab on Friday, saying that it was playing with the future of youth by delaying the start of classes of the first batch of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.


She said the state government had been causing problems in allocation of space at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, for the classes.

She asked the Congress government to announce the establishment of the temporary campus in Faridkot. “It is clear that you have been kept abreast of all details, including the fact that the Union health ministry accepted the recommendations of the expert committee of PGIMER to start the first batch of MBBS classes for AIIMS, Bathinda , from BFUHS. Feigning ignorance of it indicates that the government wants to delay the establishment of the temporary campus. The state government should not discriminate against its youth by denying them the right to initiate their studies at AIIMS, Bathinda,” she said.

She claimed that the Congress, ever since it formed the government in Punjab in 2017, had delayed the project “inordinately”.

Harsimrat playing politics: Mohindra

Punjab health and medical education minister Brahm Mohindra refuted the allegations of Union minister Harsimrat Badal regarding Punjab government putting a spanner in starting the first batch of AIIMS, Bathinda, at BFUHS. He said “little or half-baked knowledge” was always dangerous as Harsimrat was speaking without checking facts and figures, and unnecessarily politicising the issue for electoral gains.

Mohindra said there was no official communication to Punjab government, either from PGIMER or from Union health ministry, regarding operationalisation of temporary campus of AIIMS, Bhatinda, at BFUHS, Faridkot. He said that a meeting was held under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary where representative of AIIMS, Union ministry of health, DRME, BFUHS vice-chancellor and Bhatinda ADC participated. He said the ministry of health formed a committee to inspect five locations — four in Bathinda and one in Faridkot. He said the committee carried out a detailed inspection of all centres and the report was later sent to ministry. The Union ministry approved BFUHS on the recommendation of the committee and asked PGIMER director to take a call with Punjab government. “The moment Punjab government gets a letter from PGIMER, it will readily and happily accept the decision of the government, which is in larger interest of students of Punjab and the country,” he said.