He will also address a public rally in the pilgrimage town, around 100km from Chandigarh, on this occasion.
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said yesterday that the prime minister will lay the foundation stone of three major projects of health and Ayush departments and inaugurate the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Badhsa village in Jhajjar district from Kurukshetra itself.
The cancer institute, constructed at a cost of about Rs2,035 crore, has 710 beds and would provide treatment of all stages of cancer, he said, adding that apart from doctors’ rooms, about 800 rooms have been constructed for the attendants of patients.
Modi would also lay the foundation stone of Shri Krishna Ayush University, Kurukshetra, which is the first of its kind in the world, he said, adding that it would provide education and treatment through ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homoeopathic medical systems.
The university would be set up on about 94.5 acres at an estimated cost of about Rs475 crore.
“Similarly, he (Modi) would also lay the foundation stone of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University of Health, Karnal and the National Institute of Ayurveda, Panchkula,” Vij said.
The university in Karnal’s Kutail village will provide graduate and post-doctoral courses, and also have a super-specialty hospital with a trauma centre. This university would be developed over 144 acres at an estimated cost of about Rs750 crore, he added.
Vij also said that the ayurveda institute would come up in Panchkula, at a cost of Rs 270.50 crore, to provide medical facilities in the ancient Indian health system.
>>Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the government’s efforts have helped improve farmers’ economic condition and refuted the criticism that the Rs6,000 annual income support to them was meagre.
The minister said in the Lok Sabha Modi wanted an honest budget. So the fiscal deficit target was marginally raised to 3.4%.
Replying to the discussions on the interim budget which was later passed by voice vote, he said the amount allocated for farmers in the 2019 budget was not small and provided constant annual income support.
“About 12 crore farmers getting Rs6,000 each year which translates into Rs7.5 lakh crore in a span of 10 years is not small by any means,” he said, adding that the government had provided earlier higher MSP for 22 crops and that there had been a marked improvement in the condition of farmers with steps like Ayushman Bharat.
Goyal also refuted the criticism that the government had presented a full budget in an election year.
“We have not announced any new scheme for next year’s budget. Rather, in 2014, the then UPA finance minister, without waiting for a regular budget, had cut the duty on SUVs and big luxury cars for the rich while tinkering with the tax rates which is unusual in the Interim budget.” He asked whether an SUV was purchased by the middle class and farmers.
The Minister took another dig at the UPA government saying no benefits were given to the farmers in Budget 2009 but loans to the farmers doubled in the NDA government’s rule.
He said the Congress only brought one announcement in their 10 years from 2004-14 pertaining to farmers – a farm loan waiver of Rs 60,000 crore. According to Goyal, even that was not provided in the Budget and the actual number was brought down to Rs 52,000 crore a year later.
The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Interim Budget for 2019-20 after a day-long discussion.
