Medical varsity to open in 3 years: Aher

NASHIK, May 2: The proposed medical university at Nashik will take another three years to begin full-fledged operations, state Health Minist...

NASHIK, May 2: The proposed medical university at Nashik will take another three years to begin full-fledged operations, state Health Minister Daulatrao Aher said today.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said even the inauguration of the temporary structure leased out by the Nashik Municipal Corporation might take another year.

The process of acquiring land for the university campus near the Maharashtra Engineering Research Institute along Dindori Road, the construction and setting up of other facilities would take another three years, he added.

Aher, who belongs to the BJP, also expressed displeasure at the party8217;s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad8217;s opposition to the formation of the university. The ABVP, he said, should have contacted him before going public on the issue, adding he was still open to discussion on the project.

Referring to the criticism by educationists on the proposal to appoint the Health Minister as pro vice-chancellor of the university, he said he waspersonally 8220;not keen8221; on being the pro V-C. However, the system was being introduced on lines of similar universities in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the minister said, justifying the proposal.

The state government had announced the inauguration of the new university in Nashik on May 1. However, a group of Nagpur citizens moved the Nagpur bench of the Mumbai High Court, challenging the decision on the location of the university. The petitioners, Mannu Datta and Umesh Chaube, had demanded that the university be set up in Nagpur instead of Nashik, as per the recommendations of the Vidarbha development board, to reduce the backlog of development in the region. The case has been shifted to the Mumbai High Court, which has scheduled the hearing for Monday.

The issue also led to a clash of regional pride with indignant Nagpurites protesting the move to build the university in Nashik, and Nashik-dwellers as resolute in their clamour for having the institution in their city.Even Aher, forgetting that he was aminister for the state, initiated the formation of an action committee of Nashik citizens to counter the move of the people of Nagpur. The committee had launched a signature campaign demanding the university in Nashik, with eminent Marathi authors like Jnanpith Award winner poet and playwright V W Shirwadkar alias Kusumagraj8217; and playwright Vasant Kanetkar lending their support to the campaign.Apart from the litigation over the formation of the university, the government is yet to table a bill in the state legislature or issue an ordinance, which could delay the state health minister8217;s dream project even further.