Hyderabad: Two months on BRAOU staff protest against varsity land allocation still going strong

The teaching and non-teaching staff demand the Congress government immediately revoke order allocating BRAOU's 10 acres of land to JNAFAU

Hyderabad: For over two months, the Dr. BR Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU), which otherwise used to be a serene campus in Jubilee Hills here, has become a site for protest.

Since the last 72 days, the teaching and non-teaching staff have been staging protests at the university administrative building demanding the Congress government revoke its order allotting BRAOU’s 10 acres of land to JNAFAU.

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The State government on September 19 allocated BRAOU’ s 10 acres of land to Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) for expansion.

This move did not go down well with the BRAOU teaching and non-teaching staff who opposed the order stating that open university has already lost a large portion of its land and requires present land for varsity expansion.

Apart from university staff and alumni, even intellectuals, university former vice chancellors, academics, journalists and public representatives wanted order revocation.

According to BRAOU JAC comprising teaching and non-teaching staff, the University was established in 53 acres of land by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government.

Of the total land, five acres was allotted to T-SAT, four acres of land was utilised for cable bridge construction, while more than five acres was submerged in Durgam Cheruvu.

The JAC argues that the university, which now operates in 35 acres of land, needs expansion including establishment of multimedia, online education learning and skill development centres and to create better infrastructure for growing enrolments. It expressed apprehensions that allotting university’s land to another institution would not leave any scope for further expansion of the campus.

JAC general secretary Dr. Venugopal Reddy said the BRAOU was trying to provide coaching for international languages along with English language studies, and requires construction of special training centers and language laboratories for offering these courses, he said, adding that however there was no suitable university land available for construction of these proposed buildings.

The JAC would continue to protest till the government withdrew the land allocation order, said Maloth Buddha, member JAC.