Civil Society Tral (CST), an amalgam of various groups on Wednesday appealed the Government to setup the AIIMS in Tral on basis of merit rather than succumbing to vote bank politics.In a statement to CNS, CST stated that Tral is best suitable location for setting up tertiary health care center, AIIMS due its favorable conditions – pollution free area, available state land at Pushard and Shaldraman and its proximity to national highway and proposed railway connectivity to Pahalgam via Tral from Srinagar. “We don’t want to politicize the issue. We are taking on the basis of merit. Tral has around 1100 kanals of state land which could save the government from hurdles of identifying and acquisition issues. Everyone is aware how a big project like central university of Kashmir was marred by the land acquisition issue recently,” the statement reads.
The Civil Society said that proposed railway line to Pahalgam via Tral will make it accessible to the people across Kashmir. “Kokernag- Kashtiwar route on which work is going on will also be added advantage to the pirpanjal region as well. Thus it makes the Tral an accessible location to the major population of the region. Given the routine severe traffic jams on national highway, many patients die on way to SKIMS while getting struck in these traffic jams, proximity of AIIMS to national highway will save many lives.”Giving an example of viability of tertiary care hospital in Tral area, the Civil Society said that during September floods last year, Tral Sub district hospital catered to the rush of patients from all over south Kashmir which remained unaffected due to floods.“It will be naïve on the part of government to setup AIIMS in the flood prone areas proposed by certain politicians to appease their vote bank in district Pulwama,” they said. (CNS)