Central university for HP caught in web of politics

While the academic session of the IIT has already begun at the Roorkee campus,and the foundation stone for the local campus also laid,the central university is nowhere in sight.

The reason: the site proposed by the Himachal’s BJP government for the university campus is not acceptable to the state Congress leadership and the state remains at a loss.

The proposed university also remains headless with no Vice-Chancellor and administrative staff appointed so far.

Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Professor R C Sobti,an academician and scientist of repute,was offered the post of V-C but he allegedly refused.

Principal Secretary (Higher Education) P C Dhiman said: “The government is keen to see the university functional immediately. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had met HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. We are still not sure when it will happen.”

The Indian Express has learnt that after the visit of the HRD Ministry team,which inspected the 7,800 hectare near Dehra and found it suitable for the university campus,the state Congress objected to the state government’s proposal for locating the university at Dehra.

It also became an issue during the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections with Congress accusing Dhumal of shifting the central university to the constituency of his son Anurag Thakur.

Dehra,a sub-division in Kangra district bordering Amb,falls in the parliamentary constituency of Hamirpur. Before Thakur,Dhumal was an MP from the area.

The latest blow to the BJP government,which is expected to further delay the opening of the university has come from Chandresh Kumari,Lok Sabha member from Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

She has written a letter to Sibal suggesting an alternative site for the university.

Chandresh,who was the health minister in the earlier Congress government and had lost 2007 Assembly elections to Industries Minister Krishan Kapoor from Dharamshala,is understood to have forwarded some documents suggesting the site near Dhramshala town.

Dhiman said Deputy Commissioner Kangra RS Gupta has been instructed to look into the case and inform the government.

“The government is open to the idea. If the site suggested by Chandresh is appropriate,we can ask the HRD ministry to send its team for spot inspection,” Dhiman added.

The state government is now keen on the appointment of the V-C,who could monitor and supervise the finalisation of the site and create infrastructure without further delay.