Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a pro-Kannada organisation of the Narayan Gowda group, took out a procession to the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday urging the State government to establish a new university in Yadgir district instead of in Raichur.
Vedike activists took exception to the move to find a suitable place for the new university, after a team from Gulbarga University visited Raichur recently for the purpose.
The protesters, led by Bhima Naik, district president of the organisation, said that Yadgir district has remained backward in education because of the negligence by elected representatives who had failed to get any higher education institutions for the district. Now, the government was planning to remove Yadgir district from the jurisdiction of Gulbarga University, Kalaburagi, and bring it under the newly proposed university in Raichur. However, representatives from the district had failed to raise any objection to the move and demand a new university here, the protesters said. Raichur district has many higher education institutions, including the Agriculture University, and there is a proposal to establish a university there bringing Yadgir under it which, they said, was injustice to the people of the latter district. Therefore, the government should drop the proposal and establish the new university to ensure access to higher education for students of the backward district, Mr. Naik said.
Deputy Commissioner Khushboo Goel Chowdhary, who received a memorandum addressed to Governor Vajubhai Vala, promised to send the requisition to the government for further action.
Hundreds of students studying in different colleges and activists participated in the protest.
