Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 20: In the backdrop of DMK withdrawing support to the UPA Government over Sri Lankan Tamils issue, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad today said there is no threat to the Government.
“The Government has full majority. There is no threat to UPA Government. We have the numbers. We have other supporters which are supporting UPA from outside, besides those who are part of UPA except DMK,” Mr Azad told reporters in Udhampur after visiting ongoing Mega Mult-specialty Health Camp here.
Mr Azad, who was on a day-long visit of Udhampur-Doda belt of Jammu region, said, “Parliamentary elections will be held on time”.
Azad, along with Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram had met Karunanidhi on March 18 after the DMK supremo had threatened to pull out of the alliance.
“We were not expecting that DMK will withdraw support. We were with them till late in the night. We talked over two and half hours with them (DMK leadership),” Mr Azad said.
“They raised demand of moving amendments to the US-sponsored resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue at the UNHRC. We had told them, we will reach Delhi and will talk to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,” he said.
“We thought they will wait for one or two days. If they had waited, it would have been better,” he said.
DMK withdrew support to the UPA yesterday and the party’s five Union ministers today submitted their resignation to the Prime Minister.
After inspecting super specialty camp in Udhampur district hospital, Azad flew to Doda where he inaugurated district hospital complex.
Earlier, Mr Azad visited ongoing Mega Multi-specialty Health Camp organized by Rotary Foundation in collaboration with Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, State Government and Rotary Clubs of J & K with the support of the district administration.
Mr Azad said that the purpose of the camp was to provide advance specialized health services to people of remote and far-flung areas of the State and added that the Central Government was committed to improve the medicare facilities in the State. He said for the purpose two Super Specialty Hospitals one each for Kashmir and Jammu were coming up.
Appreciating the initiative of Rotary International towards the service of mankind, he expressed his gratitude to R. K Saboo and other coordinators of this medical mission for providing medicare services to the needy people and hoped that the initiative taken by Rotary International in association with Health Department would go a long way to help the downtrodden and poor masses of the State.
“We have always strived towards building a healthy community and such Mega Medical Camps are very important step towards ensuring the overall well-being of the nation. I am happy that so many people have come forward to take advantage of this facility”, the Union Health Minister and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir said.
He said such camps would be made regular feature in the entire State, particularly in tourist destinations to provide the doctors a stress and strain free environment during the camps.
He asked the officers of Health Department to compile data of the patients who attended OPD session to use it to plan the future camps to be organized at various places of Jammu and Kashmir, as per the local requirements.
On the occasion, MLA Udhampur Balwant Singh Mankotia demanded provision for healthcare facilities to the local civil patients at the Army Command Hospital Udhampur. Mr Azad assured that the matter would be taken up with the concerned army authorities.
Mr Azad visited different wards and operation theatres of Udhampur hospital, interacted with the patients and enquired about the medicare facilities being provided to them.
Minister for R&B, Abdul Majid Wani, Minister of State for Health, Shabir Ahmed Khan, Member Parliament, Udhampur-Doda Constituency, Choudhary Lal Singh, Balwant Singh Mankotia, Krishan Bhagat, MLAs, DIG, Jagjit Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Yasha Mudgal, Raja Saboo, Upkar Singh Sethi, Dr. Rajiv Pradhan, Chief Project Coordinators, Dr Vinod Sharma and D N Sharma were also present on the occasion.
Later, Mr Azad inaugurated new IPD block in District Hospital Doda, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 24.22 crore. He also laid foundation stone of Kissan Ghar-cum-Community Hall at Doda, which is being constructed under MPLAD Fund.
Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the new IPD block, Mr Azad said that liberal funding is being provided to Jammu and Kashmir by the Union Government led by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
He called upon the State Government to avail benefits of Central support for equitable development of all regions of the State.
Azad reiterated that the Coalition Government must work hard to extend better basic facilities to the people living in backward and far flung areas of the State. He said the Government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has taken up various projects for holistic development under core sectors in the State.
The Union Minister said that several schemes have been initiated by the Central Government for strengthening the Health Care Delivery system in the State. He said that under JSSK, free delivery, free medicines, free transport, free tests and free food is being provided to the pregnant women in the State. He called for creating awareness among the people about these schemes initiated by the Health Department for the benefit and welfare of the poor people.
Mr Azad also highlighted schemes under which free medical treatment will be provided to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) patients suffering from Heart, Lung, Kidney and other life threatening ailments. He said that medical expenditure will be borne by the Health Department, adding that for Above Poverty Line (APL) patients whose monthly income is below Rs. 5000, Health Department will provide treatment expenses up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs for Heart, Lungs and Kidney ailments.
He said that to provide food security to poor people living in rural and urban areas, the Union Government has passed the Food Security Bill, which provides ration at very nominal rates to the poor.
Minister for R&B, Abdul Majid Wani, MP Ch. Lal Singh, Minister of State for Health Shabir Ahmed Khan, Minister of State for Power, Technical Education, Vikar Rasool Wani, MLCs, Naresh Kumar and Sham Lal Bhagat were also present on the occasion.
Mr Azad later launched field operations of National Population Register (NPR) project for photography, finger prints and IRIS of all the usual residents of Doda district.
Director, Census Operations, J&K, R K Bhagat, Joint Director, Census Operations, J&K, C S Sapru and Deputy Commissioner, Doda, Farooq Ahmad Khan were present on the occasion.
The objective of the NPR project is to help better targeting of the benefits and services under various Government schemes and programmes, improve planning and security of the country besides preventing identity fraud.
C. S. Sapru, presented a brief introduction of the Project and explained the methodology for executing the project and its benefits.
The Government has decided to create a National Population Register (NPR) of all the ‘usual residents’ in the country by collecting specific information of each resident which is being prepared at the local (village/ward), Sub District (tehsil), district, State and National level.
The register would also have photographs, ten fingerprints and IRIS of all usual residents of age 5 years and above. The NPR database would be sent to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for de-duplication and issuance of unique ID numbers.
It will be a register of usual residents, which would include citizens as well as non-citizens. Besides, the resident identity (smart) card, proposed under the scheme, is meant for usual residents of the country who are of age 18 years and above.
The additional data fields being collected during capture of biometrics for NPR included ration card number, EPIC number, MNREGA job card no, driving license number, PAN card number, beneficiary group (Antyodaya/BPL/APL) and passport number.
The State Governments have been allowed to add three more additional fields as per their requirements.
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