NROs rue plan for second Central varsity campus in Bhubaneswar

The Pioneer, April 30, 2009
PNS | Bhawanipatna

Non-resident Oriyas (NROs) have expressed deep concern and anguish over the decision of Prof Surabhi Banerjee to set up a Second Campus of the Central University of Orissa (CUO) at Bhubaneswar.

They said that there was no need for opening a Second Campus in the Capital city as Bhubaneswar is hosting many national institutions like IIT, NISER, AIIMS and National University Bhubaneswar (NUB).

NROs like Prof Digambara Patra and others have flooded the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with e-mails demanding immediate intervention. Professor Patra, who teaches Chemistry in the American University of Beirut, alleged that the first Vice-Chancellor of CUO is more interested in her own personal convenience. He has alleged that Prof Banerjee is in no mood to move to Koraput due to lack of facilities like airport and modern health care units. Many of us have been working hard to establish a Central University in the KBK region for the past five years keeping backwardness of KBK region in mind, but this is really disappointing, he rued.

People of Kalahandi have been struggling for a Central University for the past two decades for which the Chief Minister of Orissa promised to establish a Central University in Kalahandi in May 2008, said Lily Behera from Texas, US. Though it was expected that the proposed new Central University of Orissa will come up at Bhawanipatna as it meets all infrastructure cited by MHRD and is centrally located in KBK, Naveen Patnaik later decided to shift it to Koraput keeping political advantage in mind, she alleged.

Earlier, many petitions were given to the Prime Minister praying for justice towards the injustice caused by the Chief Minister of Orissa to the people of Kalahandi which are still pending, said Lingaraj Patra from Tokyo, Japan.

In the past couple of years, the State Government has proposed the Central Government to establish a CUO at Koraput, a branch of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) in Phulbani and an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Berhampur, all of them in South Orissa, said Atmaram Thakur. But no national institution has been proposed in the Western Orissa region during this period, he lamented.

It would be wise to establish a new campus of CUO in those regions of the State which are backward and needs attention in higher education in Western Orissa, and not in Bhuabneswar region, which is already hosting many similar establishments of high repute, said Maitreyee Behera.

By proposing a second campus of CUO in a rented house in Bhubaneswar, the VC is diluting the importance of its establishment in the backward KBK, alleged Ramakanta Acharya.

All of them are strongly opposing the move adding that in case of a second campus of CUO, it should be established in Bhawanipatna.