Bandh in Jammu tomorrow against plan to set AIIMS in Valley

The traders group said Jammu shall not be deprived of the one AIIMS that was announced by Central govt in Union budget.

Unhappy with the decision of the BJP-PDP government to set up AIIMS in the Valley, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, backed by transporters and lawyers, has called a Jammu bandh on Friday. The Congress and Panthers Party, which too are backing the protest, however, want the civil society to take credit for the protest instead of leading it.

This would mark the first major protest against the BJP in Jammu region after it came to power nearly two months ago in coalition with the PDP.

“You give four AIIMS to the Valley, we have no objection to it. But Jammu shall not be deprived of the one AIIMS that was announced by the Central government in the Union budget,” said Rakesh Gupta, president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry while addressing a largely attended meeting of local traders, industrialists and transporters here on Wednesday.

The discontent among the people of Jammu on issues like “shifting” of AIIMS to Valley, which has the potential of dividing state on regional lines like 2008 Amarnath land row agitation, is also a major setback for the BJP, which got its biggest ever tally of 25 seats from the region during the last year’s Assembly elections.

“The BJP shall have to honour its commitments to issues on which it has come to power in Jammu and Kashmir, otherwise the people of Jammu know how to make governments fall,” Gupta said.

Supporting the bandh call, state Congress vice-president and former health minister Sham Lal Sharma slammed the BJP for selling out the cause of Jammu to stay in power in coalition with the PDP. Sharma said they have no objection to Valley and Ladakh also getting an AIIMS each, but Jammu shall not be deprived of the one specifically announced for it by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget.

The traders’ group also slammed the state government for its budget and questioned the BJP’s silence over the setting up of a toll plaza on Jammu-Udhampur highway near Nagrota.

Source:: Indian Express