SRINAGAR: The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a heated exchange between Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone and National Conference (NC) members over the establishment of Government Medical College (GMC) Handwara.
During the Question Hour, NC MLAs Mir Saifullah, Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, and Javed Mirchal demanded that GMC Handwara be set up at a location between Handwara and Kupwara. Sajad Lone also stood up, asserting that his primary concern was to ensure that the allocated funds did not lapse.
Responding to Lone, Minister for Health and Medical Education Sakina Ittoo said she had taken up the matter of extending funding with the Centre. “I don’t want funds to lapse. The minister should tell us whether there has been any response to the letter,” Lone insisted.
Lone said that he had faced criticism from his political adversaries for getting the medical college sanctioned.
As NC MLAs attempted to counter him, Lone accused them of diverting an engineering college from Kupwara district. He was referring to the engineering college initially planned for Kupwara in 2014 under the NC-led government, which was later shifted to Safapora Sonawari at the request of the JK government.
Lone accused the NC of politicising the issue, leading to a verbal spat between him and NC minister Sakina Ittoo. “Omar Abdullah Sahab has brought thousands of such medical colleges. It is not a question of who brought the college. I will order an inquiry into how it was set up in a flood-prone area,” she said. (KNO)
