UT suggests formation of core working group; Amit Shah to chair meet on Sept 20 Ramkrishan Upadhyay Chandigarh, September 18 The UT Administration has suggested the formation of a core working group comprising of members from the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, PGIMER, Chandigarh, and the GMCH-32 to streamline referral and back referral services in the PGI. Reducing the burden on the PGI is one of the important agendas that Chandigarh will raise in the meeting of the Northern Zonal Council to be held on September 20. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the 29th meeting of the council, which comprises of states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Government of NCT of Delhi. Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will attend the meeting for the first time. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is the vice-chairman and host for the meeting. The UT will also raise the issues of more funds for Panjab University and construction of ring roads. The UT’s agenda says that the PGI was conceived to provide high-quality specialised tertiary care health services to people, especially of North India. In the past few years, the number of patients visiting the PGI has increased manifold, which led to several difficulties in providing quality health care services. Though several steps are being taken to cater to the need of rising number of patients, states should also take proactive steps to reduce the burden by improving health facilities in their states. The UT will also take the issue of shorter route to the airport in Mohali. Haryana has already rejected the draft techno-economic feasibility study report conducted by the DMRC. The UT will also raise the issue of financial grant to Panjab University and preservation of Sukhna Lake. Renaming of airport to be bone of contention The issue of renaming the international airport is likely to be a bone of contention in the meeting as both Haryana and Punjab are adamant on their stand. While Haryana stressed the need for renaming of civil air terminal at the Chandigarh airport, the Government of Punjab is not ready for it. The Punjab Government had passed a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha to name the Civil Air Terminal Complex at the Chandigarh airport as ‘Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Sigh International Airport, Mohali’. The Government of Haryana has also requested to name the airport as ‘Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh’. Although there is unanimity in naming the airport after Sardar Bhagat Singh, there have been objections to add the name of the city as “Mohali” in place of “Chandigarh” to the name of the airport. The Punjab Chief Minister had also written to the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation reiterating the need to respect the resolution passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in year 2008.

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