Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Burning issues: tough time likely for Purandareswari

VISAKHAPATNAM: Union Minister of State for HRD D. Purandareswari is expected to face a lot of searching questions when she visits the city on Wednesday regarding elevation of Andhra University College of Engineering to an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) and also shifting of Central University proposed here by the Centre to Kadapa.

This is because the Centre is asking afresh Andhra University about its proposals for converting it into a Central University and elevation of AUCE to an IIEST, years after the university sent letters to the State Government to pursue both proposals with the Centre.

It may be recalled that the AU Academic Senate and the Executive Council passed resolutions in 2004 to convert the university into a Central University while concerted efforts commenced in 2005 to get an all-India institute status-IIEST- for the AUCE.

AU asked the State Government to forward its resolution to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development regarding Central University. The Centre must have taken this into consideration when it decided recently to set up Central Universities and proposed one here. But the State Cabinet decided to shift it to Chief Minister’s district citing non-availability of land here as the reason.

In the case of AUCE, after the S.K. Joshi committee visited the college in 2005 for an inspection to examine if the college could be elevated to an IIEST, the AU which was willing to get the status, asked the State Government to pursue the matter.

The two issues are bothering people of this region for a long time and the recent decision of the State Government to shift the Central University to Kadapa trigged protest.

The opposition parties have come together on this issue to take the Government head on while intellectuals and students are up in arms against the Government.

People here feel that the Government is not sincere and also misleading them regarding the IIEST status.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Another feather in EPDCL cap
Vijaya Kumar elected chief of TTD advisory board
City of Destiny makes expatriates feel at home
Lifestyle habits increasing obesity
Bronze statue of NTR to be unveiled today
100 students get placement
Handloom exhibition from May 30
Hiring of private buses: RTC union stages dharna
Burning issues: tough time likely for Purandareswari
Nandi awards function to be held on June 7
Visakhapatnam today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu