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Journalism of Courage
The issue of opening a branch of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Dehra Dun has become another embarrassment for the Congress government in the state while threatening to snowball into a major political controversy. For not only the Opposition parties but even a Congress minister has criticised Uttaranchal Chief Minister Narain Datt Tiwari’s stand on the issue.
Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Uttaranchal, had sanctioned opening one of the five branches of AIIMS, New Delhi, in Dehra Dun and Union MoS for Surface Transport B.C. Khanduri, who represents Pauri Garhwal constituency, wrote to Tiwari requesting the state government to provide a hundred acres of land for the purpose.
In his reply, Tiwari welcomed the decision but also wrote that already there were two private hospitals in the district. The reference of these two private hospitals not only infuriated the BJP but also one of Tiwari’s ministers, because the CM has been closely associated with one of the private hospitals. MoS for Industrial Development Kishore Upadhaya, a known critic of Tiwari, has also come out against the Chief Minister’s stand.
‘‘Politics apart, we should be happy about the setting up of such an institute which would benefit poor people from Garhwal. I am going to write to the CM to give the land immediately,’’ he said. Meanwhile, Dehra Dun mayor Manorama Sharma has offered 100 acres of land for AIIMS.
