Naveen urged to select Kalahandi for Central university

Bhubaneswar,Aug 12 (UNI) The KBK Central University Co-ordination Committee today urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to recommend Kalahandi for establishment of a central university in Orissa.

Committee convener Lambodar Sahu, who led a 50-member delegation, submitted a memorandum to the chief minister urging him to reconsider the government's decision and write to the Union government to establish the proposed University in Kalahandi.

The delegation included Planning and Coordination Minister Duryodhan Majhi,Labour Minister Pradipta Naik,former Minister and BJD MLA Balabhadra Majhi and representatives of various NGOs,Zilla and Panchayat Samitis.

The delegation made the demand since the chief minister had already suggested to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh to set up the proposed central university at Koraput.

The delegation claimed that Kalahandi fulfilled all the criteria required for establishing a central university and is ideally located at the centre of the KBK region.

They regretted that though they had been demanding setting up of the central university since 1990 in Kalahandi, the chief minister chose to recommend Koraput to the union government.

The delegation further said during the last 18 years they had written several times to the Centre and the state and also to the prime minister and the chief minister in support of their demand but to no avail.

The committee said an appeal has been made to the prime minister, the Union HRD Minister,the chief minister and the state higher education minister, signed by 80,000 people, to set up the university in Kalahandi.

This apart nearly 4000 people have dropped post cards in favour of the demand.

A month Mr Naveen Patnaik, they claimed, had also assured a delegation headed by four MLAs of the district and some educationists of recommending to the Centre to establish the university in Kalahandi.

The chief minister reportedly told the delegation that since he had already written to the union government for setting up of the central university in Koraput, he would ensure that some thing for the district would be done after the elections to the Urban Local bodies was completed.

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