Khandu assured site identification for college of Ayurveda
Itanagar
Chief Minister Pema Khandu has assured site identification for a proposed college of Ayurveda under the Ministry of AYUSH in the state without delay. Expressing gratitude to Dr D C Katoch, Advisor AYUSH, who called on him here at his offices today, for the keen interest expressed by the Ministry to establish a college in the state, Khandu said the state government is always willing to extend cooperation for every developmental project beneficial to the state.
He advised Health Minister Jomde Kena and Parliamentary Secretary Phurpa Tsering, who were also present during the discussion, to hold an internal meeting of the department and suggest a suitable location for establishment of the college immediately.
“Site should be selected keeping in mind every aspect of physical and logistical aspects of the project besides keeping scope for future expansion,” the Chief Minister advised. At present, there is only one government-run Ayurveda college in the North East at Guwahati, Assam.
When informed that the Union Ministry has already kept budgetary provisions for establishment of the said college and is awaiting submission of DPR by the state government, the Chief Minister emphasized on urgency to expedite the site selection process that would enable the concerned department to formulate a DPR.
Dr Katoch gave details of the Ministry and its activities to the Chief Minister and suggested scopes for cooperation in extending activities like manufacturing of alternate medicines within the state owing to its rich natural resources.
On behalf of the Ministry, he also offered to deploy a team of experts to extensively survey the state to identify trees, plants, herbs, etc of medicinal value that can be utilized for manufacturing of alternate medicines.
Khandu welcomed the suggestion citing that it would offer self-employment to local villagers as well who can take up commercial cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs.
He requested Dr Katoch to guide the state government and assured that the state government will extend full cooperation to AYUSH for all its endeavours in the state.
State Government officials of Health Services, who accompanied the visiting Advisor, requested the Chief Minister for creation of a separate directorate for AYUSH.
“As AYUSH is under the same department of health services, its actual use and benefits are not reaching to the people due to administrative complicacies,” they informed.
Heeding to the request, the Chief Minister asked the Minister in-charge to process for the same on file so that it can be discussed in the next cabinet meeting.
