Sajad Lone and NC leaders clash over GMC Handwara in Assembly

The Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a heated exchange of words 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, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), NC MLAs Mir Saifullah, Qaiser Jamsheed Lone, and Javed Mirchal demanded that GMC Handwara be set up somewhere between Handwara and Kupwara. Sajad Lone also stood up, pointing out 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 that 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 has got abuses from his political adversaries for getting the medical college sanctioned.

As NC MLAs attempted to counter Lone, he accused them of snatching the engineering college from Kupwara district. Lone was referring to the engineering college that was initially planned for Kupwara in 2014 during the NC-led government but was later shifted to Safapora Sonawari at the request of the J&K government.

Lone accused the National Conference of playing politics over the issue, leading to a verbal duel 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)