Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, August 26
The Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) authorities have written to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Kolkata, to send a team for the technical evaluation of the land proposed for the university campus at Jadrangal in Dharamsala.
Sources say that a GSI team from Shimla had last month surveyed the site proposed for the CUHP campus at Jadrangal. In its report, the team stated that the proposed land was unfit for the construction of the campus. It recommended a detailed survey to be conducted by the GSI, Kolkata, to evaluate the technical feasibility of the land for the construction of the campus.
Meanwhile, a political controversy has erupted over the report of the GSI, Shimla, not finding the land proposed at Jadrangal in the Dharamsala Assembly constituency suitable for campus construction.
Sat Prakash Bansal, Vice-Chancellor, says that the university has written to the GSI, Kolkata, to constitute a team for the survey. He adds that the CUHP is committed to constructing the campus in Dharamsala once the land is made available to it.
"At present, we intend to start the construction of the campus at Dehra on about 24 hectares non-forestland and about 81 hectares forestland provided for the CUHP. The construction of the campus has already been delayed by around 12 years and we don't want to delay it further. As soon as the government provides us land in Dharamsala, the construction of the campus will begin," he says.
Meanwhile, AICC secretary Sudhir Sharma has questioned the intention of the government to construct a CUHP campus in Dharamsala. He has accused BJP leaders of Dharamsala, including local MLA Vishal Nehria and Kangra MP Kishan Kapoor, of failing to protect the interests of the area.
Sharma says that if high-rise hotels, a mini-secretariat and the international-level cricket stadium can come up in Dharamsala, why did the GSI not find the place fit for the CUHP campus. "It is clearly a conspiracy to shift the entire campus to Dehra," he adds.
Sharma says earlier the central authorities had rejected the land proposed for the campus in Dharamsala and now the land at Jadrandal has been rejected. "How is it that the land at Dehra has been found suitable for the campus construction and the land located 40 km away in Dharamsala is unfit," he adds.
Nehria says that he has talked to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on the issue. "I shall be going to Delhi to talk to the Union HRD Minister to request him that at least 30 per cent campus should be constructed in Dharamsala. I have also conveyed to the Chief Minister that the CUHP campus can be built on 25 acres non-forestland at Jadrangal that has already been allotted to the university," he adds.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service