UP to name new technology institutes

Lucknow, Oct 3: Continuing its political agenda to name important installations after Dalit icons, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to dedicate its proposed state-of-the-art engineering institute to Kanshiram.

The institute which will be established by UP education department in Lucknow has been proposed to be named as 'Manyawar Kanshiram Institute of Technology'.

Chief Minister Mayawati, imediately after coming to power, had announced sething to set up two major institutes-one on the lines of IIT and other in the league of Indian Institute of Science(IISc), Banglore. Though the decision of setting up two national level institutes was appreciated in the education fraternity as a pro-active step but the proposed nomenclature will invite opposition.

Incidentally, the IISc level institute is proposed to be named as 'Mahamaya Institute of Science,UP' and likley to be set up at Badalpur, the native village of Chief Minister Mayawati in Gautambudhnagar district.

According to highly- placed sources, these two institutes, to be set up at the cost of Rs 500 crore each, would match the standards of IITs and IISc. The state government has already released Rs 25 crore each for these projects, which are expected to be completed within five years.

Chief Minister Mayawati is expected to lay the foundation stone of Manyawar Kanshiram Institute during a massive rally being organised on October 9 in the state capital on the occasion of the first death anniversay of BSP's ideologue and mentor Kanshiram.

UNI