Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bhakta Das bats for National university for Kalahandi

The Pioneer, 11th Nov, 2009

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Bhakta Charan Das has urged Union Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal to set up a National University in Kalahandi district. Das, Congress MP from Kalahandi and former Union Minister, in a letter to Sibal, has demanded a university in this part of the KBK region to curb regional disparity.

Das has echoed the voice of thousands of intelligentsia of the district, who have been batting for such a centre of higher learning for more than two decades. Leading non-resident Odias (NROs), including Digamabara Patra, Madhusmita Panda and Sanjib Kumar Karmee are at the forefront of demanding a National University for the area.

Leading educationist Prof Gopabandhu Behera, who has recently been included as a member in the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), is also strongly backing the demand of a Central University for Kalahandi.

Joining the army of intelligentsia, Bhakta Das said that a university should come up as part of a special package on the lines of the Long Term KBK Plan favoured by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The KBK plan has been able to ameliorate poverty in the most backward zone to a large extent, said Das. He has urged Sibal to provide a National University, for which land would not be a problem as there is enough land available in the area.

Das said a big patch of 800 acres of Government land is available at Kalarapada, adjacent to the Utkela airstrip and Kesinga railway station. People of Kalahandi were hopeful of getting a Central University, but politics played a major role, for which the State’s first such university was set up at Koraput. However, setting up a National University in Kalahandi would help the next generation of the most backward region achieve successes in a big way, he said.

Das has been raising the issue of Central University for Kalahandi time and again. This time, he is going to make a big issue of it.

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