North India’s first Govt Homoeopathic College coming up in Kathua: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, Mar 10: Union Minister Jitendra Singh Sunday said that North India’s first Government Homoeopathic College, centrally funded at Rs 80 crore would come up in the Jasrota area of Kathua district.

Visiting the proposed site of the college in Jasrota village, Singh said that the agenda of the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency, which was taken at hand soon after he was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2014, would continue uninterrupted till the date of the declaration of election schedule and would resume immediately after the Model Code of Conduct is lifted.

He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi before whom this requisition was put up, and said it was a matter of pride for the people of Kathua that North India’s first government Homoeopathic College at Rs 70 to 80 crore would come up here.

The union minister said the institution would be spread over an area of over 8 acres. He said that the adjoining three acres might also be added to the existing premises in due course of time.

“The proposed structure will include a hospital complex, a college, an administrative block and one hostel each for male and female students,” Singh said.

He said that the open space would be utilised later on for the construction of an auditorium and playground.

The union minister said it would not only be a great boon for aspirants of Homoeopathy degree in North India, which was not available earlier but also provide cost-effective treatment to needy patients.

“It will also be in keeping with the Modi government’s healthcare approach which involves synergising allopathic with Ayush streams of medicine, including Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, and naturopathy,” Singh said.

He stated that the experience after COVID-19 had further consolidated this view that traditional Indian methods of medicine and cure had a panacea value.

Highlighting the medical infrastructure of Kathua built in the last 10 years, Singh said that the district now has a government medical college and a cancer treatment facility being provided by Tata Memorial Centre, Bombay.

“The addition of a government Homoeopathic College will make Kathua an integrated and cost-effective healthcare centre of North India in times to come,” he said.

The union minister said that with this, Kathua was all set to emerge as North India’s cost-effective and state-of-the-art centre of medical facilities.

Talking to media later on, he said it was ironically hilarious and laughable that some of the critics who, from time to time, deny any development having taken place in the constituency over the last 10 years were the ones who were themselves also availing the facility of projects brought in the last 10 years.

“The critics and the cynics who say that no development has happened are admitting their children in the medical colleges and other degree colleges established in the last 10 years,” Singh said.

He said that this was a rare Lok Sabha constituency which got three centrally-funded medical colleges in the last few years.

Singh said that some of the critics say that nothing had happened but when they have to travel to Delhi, they avail the facility of Vande Bharat Train introduced in the last five years.

He said that this was a rare constituency which got two Vande Bharat trains with stoppage at both Udhampur and Kathua and this was also mentioned by PM Modi during his address to the public in Srinagar.

“The Express Road Corridor from Katra to Delhi will also become functional in the next few months and six lanes of the National Highway will reduce the road travel time from Kathua to Delhi to around four and half hours,” the union minister said.

He said that his first five-year term was devoted to making up for the lapses of the past governments including the Shahpur Kandi project which had been held up for the last 30 years causing hardship for the people of Kathua.

“The second five-term was devoted to setting up new institutions like centrally funded Government Medical Colleges, the first ever seeding processing plant, and the Homoeopathic College. The next five-year term will be devoted to consolidating these gains and developing the region as North India’s most attractive destination from the point of view of education, trade, tourism, and revenue,” Singh said.

Earlier, he visited a congregation of the Jasrota community being held in the vicinity of the under-construction college.