Office of the Deputy Commissioner has shared a fact-sheet with media explaining the reasons for shifting the First Grade College in Kaniyoor in Puttur taluk to Belandur, a nearby village.
This comes two days after Belthangady MLA S. Angara staged a protest in the Legislative Assembly against the shift. In a note sent to the media on Friday, it said “there is no congenial atmosphere for running a degree college at Kaniyoor. No suitable land had been identified for the college which has 150 students and an amount of Rs. 134 sanctioned for the construction of the college building in December 2009 had remained unspent, it pointed out.
The college was functioning with just one classroom on the premises of a high school and two classrooms in a private building.
This year even the private building had been rented out to Vijaya Bank and make-shift class rooms were being arranged on the fourth floor, which was secure enough to offer classes.
The note said between 2008 and 2013, no land was identified or granted for construction of college building and the nearest possible land was located on the premises of Belandur Higher Primary School, where a 5-acre has been reserved for the college.
It said the alternative 37-acre land, where the forest department had undertaken afforestation, had a muddy approach road – “uneven and no human habitation in the area.”
It was not safe for students to walk especially for girls.
The land was uneven and huge money was required to level it and hence it was not an ideal location for setting up the college.
Six make-shift classrooms have been constructed for the college on the premises of the Belandur High School.
The shifting of the college has led to classes being held at both Balandur and Kaniyoor with students, teachers, local leaders and people divided along political line – a fact highlighted by a special report in The Hindu on June 26.
