Vizag getting ready for central varsity!

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, May 22, 2014: Finally central university in Vizag, which has been hanging in fire, seems to become a reality soon.  Though, the then union HRD ministry sanctioned central university for Vizag in 2008 itself, the proposal has never seen the light.

There were also attempts by the then state government, to shift it to Kadapa, citing non availability of land in Vizag. And at that time there were strong protests in the city against the move. Subsequently, due to political instability in the state due to various reasons, the issue was pushed into a cold storage.

With the state bifurcation, the proposal has again cropped up. Recently AP State Council of Higher Education has sought the district administration details about availability of 400 acres of land to set up, Central University and another 100 acres for a Tribal university.

This comes after the outgoing union government, has promised many premier institutions like IIM, IIT and others including a central university for Seemandhra as part of bifurcation deal. There was also a demand for setting up a tribal university by many politicians especially of north Andhra, including Congress senior leader, Kishore Chandra Deo.

The Union HRD ministry had proposed to set up 14 world class universities in the country under the 11th Plan. It also listed the cities.  Vizag’s varsity was supposed to be the one of the three in south India. Similar varsities were planned at Mysore in Karnataka and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu in South. These institutions are supposed to come up on the lines of Cambridge University and Leeds University of UK and Pittsburgh University in USA.

After an uproar from locals, state government then sought the district  administration to send the details of land availability.  In 2008 , the then district collector had identified 700-acre site in the 1,300-acre proposed Knowledge Park at Sabbavaram and sent the details to the state government.

District collector, Solomon Arokia Raj said that the local officials are now busy in identifying the suitable land as per the communication from the state government to set up both central university and tribal university. He added the exercise will be finished in a day or two and would send the report to the concerned.