No assurance on setting up of Tribal University in Telangana

Although it has been eight years since the formation of Telangana State, the Centre, which granted permission to establish a university, failed to take up any works pertaining to this till date

Hyderabad: While a Central Tribal University has already been established and classes have commenced in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, no work has begun in Telangana with regard to setting up of the University, despite land and buildings being allocated by the State government for the purpose. The Central Tribal University has been functioning in Andhra Pradesh since August 2020.

Interestingly, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday too did not give any assurance about setting up of the Central Tribal University in Telangana and just informed that the Site Selection Committee constituted by the Ministry of Education has finalised a site in Mulugu and a Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared. While replying to a question raised by BRS member KR Suresh Reddy, the minister said setting up a Central University was a continuous process and did not elaborate on the issue.

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Although it has been eight years since the formation of Telangana State, the Centre, which granted permission to establish a university, failed to take up any works pertaining to this till date. The Centre gave an assurance in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 to start the Tribal University in the State, however there has been a delay in fulfilling it. After the State’s relentless fight against the Centre for the University for the last eight years, the Centre recently prepared a DPR.

Even Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao during his visit to Delhi in September 2021 requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the work for setting up a Tribal University in the State as promised in the Reorganisation Act and informed that the State government had already identified 200 acres land near Warangal and the representatives of the union government also agreed over its location.

The State government has allocated 116 acres of assigned land, 50 acres of forest land and 169 acres of government land for setting up the university in Mulugu. The State government also identified a building for starting the University. After preparing the DPR, the Centre submitted the proposal of establishing the University to the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, in February last.