Will the Government Polytechnic College and Industrial Technical Institute (ITI) in the city be shifted to other place to accommodate different government departments and staff quarters in the coming days?
Well, these are the speculations that are doing rounds among political, employees, real estate and other circles in the city since the last few days.
Both the Government Polytechnic College and ITI were established decades ago on a sprawling area of about 38 acres. While, ITI is spread over in an area of about 12 acres, polytechnic college is housed in nearly 16 acres space.
The polytechnic college had to part with 10 acres of its land for setting up School of Planning and Architecture. Every year, close to 2,000 students from Krishna and neighbouring districts of Guntur and West Godavari pursue different courses in the polytechnic college.
“I too came across such rumours, but till date there is no official communication from the government. It is a prime land in the core area of the city and perhaps this is what is driving many people to shift the campus elsewhere. I feel it is real estate developers who are fuelling these rumours,” says M. Seshagiri Rao, principal of the college.
Adverse impact on studentsEven if there are such plans, it would cast an adverse impact on students and their education as the campus has been running here for over five decades.
‘Upgrade colleges’It would be wise if the college and the institute are upgraded into advanced centres by improving the existing infrastructure to benefit the student community, suggests Mr. Rao.
The Government Polytechnic College and ITI have always been in the radar of being shifted to other places to accommodate other facilities.
During Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s reign, there was a demand from the Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Industry to convert the entire campus, including Polytechnic College and ITI into Information Technology Park. However, the demand was shelved after establishment of Gannavaram IT Park near the airport.
