First: National Institute of High Altitude Medicine foundation stone laid

Jammu: Union MoS Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the first-ever National Institute of High Altitude Medicine in Bhaderwah tehsil of Doda district asserting that Bhaderwah has now emerged on the national map of India.

The new institute, Dr Singh disclosed, will become functional within two years and it will cater not only to this region or to this State, but to the entire Indian subcontinent.

“Not only will it open new vistas of medical research and study, but this Institute will also generate new avenues of employment for youth,” he said after laying the foundation of an institute.

Dr Singh said, within a short duration of four-and-a-half years, such a wide range of development works have been accomplished in this region, for which the people had yearned for the last 70 years.

He said, it is now for the people to ask themselves if all this could be accomplished in less than five years, why could it not be done by the earlier governments and the earlier public representatives in seven decades.

Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's priority for development of remote and backward areas, Dr Singh said, there has been a day and night effort to get the maximum number of development projects in the last four years.

Not only one or two, he said, but there are also three tunnels coming up in this region ... ... one is Chhattergalla tunnel connecting this area with Basohli, Banni and Lakhanpur, the second is Kaljugar tunnel connecting this area directly with Chamba in Himachal Pradesh and the third one is between Khaleni and Sudh Mahadev.

Bhaderwah Assembly constituency, Dr Jitendra Singh said, received the highest amount of Central Road Funds compared to any other Assembly constituency this year, to the tune of Rs 110 crore, in addition to Rs 450 crore Central Funds for PMGSY roads.

“Another Rs 10 crore Central Fund was sanctioned for Doda to Bhaderwah road, which has now reduced the travel time to just 40 minutes. The new Community Hall from MP-fund is under construction and will be named after Late Daya Kishan Kotwal,” he added.