Urging the youth in Kashmir to focus on studies, Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today said the rightful place for our children is in the educational institutions like IITs, IIMs, engineering, medical, dental colleges and not on the streets.“The youth in Kashmir should return to the educational institutions and concentrate on their studies instead of being on the streets or sitting idle at their homes,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a function organized in connection with the inauguration of the new block of Indira Gandhi Dental College Hospital here.Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Mr Bali Bhagat and MLA Jammu West, Mr Sat Sharma were also present on the occasion.The Chief Minister said that in all religions, education is considered most important and “we should seek education as a religious duty to realize the higher goals of life.” “Our children look good with books in their hands in the classrooms studying to be doctors, engineers and architects of our future rather than being on the streets,” she said.Asserting that education holds key to emancipation and empowerment of any society, Ms Mehbooba outlined the importance of providing quality education to the youth with greater focus on skill development to enhance their proficiency. She said the pursuit of education should not be merely for the purpose of acquiring employment and that it should serve the larger purpose of transforming the character of an individual by making him/her aware of his surroundings.
The Chief Minister also laid emphasis on putting skill education at the forefront of the ongoing educational efforts in the state and said that skill enhancement is required to be given priority in the state as education without market-driven skills only adds to unemployment.Expressing dismay over the delay in timely completion of the development projects, Ms Mehbooba said unfortunately infrastructure development in the state has not materialized at the required pace. “I don’t understand why the development projects in J&K take such a long time to get completed. While there could be reasons for delayed completion of the projects Kashmir because of the law and order situation and the climatic conditions, I fail to understand why there has been inordinate delay in the completion of the projects in Jammu,” she said.While congratulating the staff and students of the Dental College Jammu for getting the new block, the Chief Minister expressed the hope that the institution shall endeavor to achieve excellence in the field and provide best medicare facilities to the people.Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister said the state is steadily marching ahead on the path of development and is gaining a new identity as an important educational and healthcare destination with the opening of premier academic and professional institutions.He said the present coalition government is working towards implementation of the ‘Agenda of Alliance’ and focused attention is being laid on meeting the developmental aspirations of the people.Dr Singh said the government has ensured that all the developmental works are expedited and timelines are strictly adhered to. He also highlighted the various important projects underway to explore the tourism potential of Jammu region and for providing better amenities to the people.
Minister for Health and Medical Education, Mr Bali Bhagat in his address said that the new block of the Dental College will immensely augment the dental health services and offer latest diagnostic and treatment facilities to the patients. He said year 2016 saw a tremendous growth in the field of healthcare services in the state in terms of infrastructure development and various premier health institutions in the process of coming up.He maintained that the government is making all out efforts to improve the healthcare facilities for the people and the five new medical colleges will supplement these initiatives in terms of providing quality education and medicare.The Minister said that the Indira Gandhi Dental College is well equipped to carry out post-graduation courses and assured that soon the matter will be taken up with the concerned authorities.While presenting vote of thanks MLA West Mr Sat Sharma said that the new block of the dental college shall help the institution to provide better facilities to the patients.The new block of the Indira Gandhi Dental College Hospital has been constructed by the Jammu Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation at a cost of Rs 37.81 crore. It shall house the departments of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Oral Surgery and Maxiofacial Surgery, Periodontics, Conservation Dentistry and Orthodontics.Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Pawan Kotwal, IGP Jammu, Mr Danish Rana, Commissioner Secretary, Health & Medical Education, Mr M K Bhandari, Director Health Jammu, Dr B S Pathania, MD JKPCC, Daleep Thussu, Principal Dental College Jammu Dr Ramesh Singh and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.