Sunday, 07 November 2021 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
The area lacks health & education facilities; lags behind in development
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s spiritual inclination and his unflinching devotion for Kedarnath is clearly reflected in his regular visits to the temple and initiation of projects worth hundreds of crores of rupees but this largesse of his is only visible within the area around the temple. Outside the temple compound situated at the altitude of 11,750 feet above the sea level, little has changed for more than one lakh people residing in 150 revenue villages of Ukhimath block- where Kedarnath temple is located- as the fruits of development are yet to reach them. The locals rue that almost all projects inaugurated by Modi are aimed either at providing facilities to the pilgrims or Teerth Purohits and are not of much use for them.
During his fifth visit to Kedarnath, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of projects worth Rs 180 crore on Friday. One of these projects is construction of a modern hospital in the Kedarnath temple area. In the Ukhimath block of Rudraprayag district which has a population of more than one lakh there is not even a single Community Health Centre (CHC). In this block there are ten Primary Health Centres (PHC) and in the Ukhimath town there is a class B PHC. The nearest CHC is located in Agastyamuni. There are six posts of specialist doctors in this CHC but all of them are lying vacant. This PHC and all the CHCs of the area are being managed by young recently recruited doctors. The X- ray machines in the Agastyamuni and Ukhimath hospitals are defunct due to which the patients of the region are forced to visit district hospital or the Government Medical College, Srinagar for treatment of simplest of ailments. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Rudraprayag, Dr BK Shukla accepted that there is no specialist doctor in Agastyamuni CHC. He said that the department would purchase a new X-ray machine for Ukhimath hospital and the machine at Agastyamuni would be repaired.
When contacted the MLA of Kedarnath, Manoj Rawat said that the entire constituency is facing utter neglect of the authorities. “One can understand the pathetic attitude from the fact that the file for setting up a Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) in Chandrapuri is pending clearance at the KVS which is under the Union Education ministry. I had requested the then HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and PM Modi during his last visit for clearing the file of the school but nothing happened,’’ he said.
The Congress MLA said that though the PM has visited Kedarnath many times, the area still remains neglected and lags behind in development.
