Even as the new academic session begins in a month, there are no signs of the Gondwana University becoming a reality. Thanks to the step-motherly approach of Prithviraj Chavan-led government towards Vidarbha, Maharashtra's newest university is likely to remain on paper this year too.
Ironically, this is happening even after the chief minister and higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope made tall promises during the assembly session in December here.
Almost six months later, the government is yet to find a vice chancellor for the university which was supposed to be a harbinger of change in the backward region. While Chavan could not be contacted, his secretary Nitin Karir said he was not aware of the developments.
On the other hand, Tope refused to comment, passing the buck to the CM's office. He said that the file was with the CM and now the issue was out of his influence. Ironically, Tope had told TOI during an exclusive chat on December 4 last year that Gondwana University would start operations from Nagpur University's sub-centre at Gadchiroli from 2011-12 session.
At that time too he had said that the file was pending with the CM's office. He had also said that they were in talks with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to handover excess land for establishing the new university, which will have over 163 affiliated colleges from Gadchiroli and Chandrapur.
Sources however said that the VC's appointment was pending owing to a tug of war between the two ruling partners - Congress and NCP. As home minister RR Patil is also guardian minister of Gadchiroli, the NCP bigwigs wanted their man on the top post. On other hand, Congressmen were not ready to listen to NCP's demands.
Sources also added that finalizing a VC would not be enough for the formation of the new university. The biggest problem is getting at least 100 acres land. Though Tope said that it will start functioning from NU's sub-centre at Gadchiroli, its area is hardly 10 acres, which is too less for a university to operate to its full capacity. Moreover, NU employees have also opposed government's move to transfer them. The government has a really tough task at hand in convincing the employees and it might have to go for additional remuneration to attract them.
After the VC's appointment, bodies like board of studies (BoS) and board of examinations (BoE) would be constituted. Without these bodies, the new university would not be able to frame syllabus or conduct examinations. The university was supposed to augur in a new era of development in Gadchiroli, affected by Naxalism and poverty, but it seems a distant possibility at least in this academic session, sources said.
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