Taking up cudgels on behalf of former students of SR&BGNR Government Degree and PG College, town-based writer and social activist Nallamothu Tirumala Rao staged a day-long deeksha at his home here on Wednesday, demanding protection of valuable land of the college and its upgradation to a university.
Recently, various student unions, including PDSU and SFI staged a joint protest against the government’s alleged move to convert the college’s arboretum (Botanical Garden) spread in five acres into an urban park.
Several family members of the late Gentela Narayana Rao, who donated about 180 acres to the college, paving way for its establishment in 1956 in the town, extended their support to the deeksha by Mr. Tirumala Rao, a former student union leader of SR&BGNR college.
Activists of the PDSU and a host of former students of the college also expressed their solidarity to Mr. Tirumala Rao, who is also the district convener of Aam Aadmi Party.
The renowned SR&BGNR College should be upgraded into a university to fulfil the long standing demand of student unions for a university in the erstwhile composite Khammam district, he said.
