Left MPs demand PM's intervention on Maritime University Bill

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) Barely a day after getting involved into a fracas with DMK members in the Lok Sabha on the Indian Maritime University Bill, members of the Left parties today dashed off a letter to the Prime Minister, demanding an amendment to the Bill to ''avoid the narrow parochial approach'' and do justice to the claims of Kolkata for such a varsity.

The letter, sent by Mr Basudeb Acharia, Leader of the CPM in the Lok Sabha, points out that despite the reservation by Left parties, the Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Ministry introduced the bill in Parliament without consulting them.

The bill, piloted by Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu, seeks to set up an Indian Maritime University in Chennai with regional campuses at Mumbai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.

It has since been referred to a Select Committee of Parliament.

Mr Acharia said the Maritime Engineering Research Institute (MERI), Kolkata deserved to be declared as a university as it had all the requisite infrastructure and necessary permission, including the permission of All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

''Surprisingly, we found that in the proposed Bill, the MERI, Kolkata has been downgraded to a mere campus of the proposed university,'' points out the letter signed by 16 Left party MPs, besides Mr. Acharia.

The signatories also reminded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they had met him on March 1 and expressed their views on the proposed Indian Maritime University.

Along with the letter, the Left leaders also released a comparative study of MERI, Kolkata and National Institute of Port Management (NIPM), Kolkata. As per the report, a university at MERI, having a branch in Mumbai, can be started at the earliest possible time without spending a large amount.

''...we do not have any objection if a new university or Centre for Maritime Studies comes at Chennai or Mumbai or anywhere else in the country without degrading the MERI, Kolkata,'' they said.

Mr Acharia proposed that the three major government maritime institutes -- Meri, Kolkata, LBS CAMSAR, Mumbai and T S Chanakya, Navi Mumbai -- may be elevated to the status of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) by an Act Of Parliament.

''The NIPM, Chennai may also be elevated to the status of IIT.

The proposal, if considered, may help our country in developing greater human resources in maritime industry, which is booming throughout the globe,'' pointed out the letter.

Putting forward their serious reservations to the bill in the existing form, the MPs expressed the hope that the Prime Minister would use his office to resolve the matter ''so that the proposed bill is amended in such a form that narrow parochial approach'' is avoided.

UNI