The 100-acre Bachupally campus is proving to be an albatross around the neck of the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University which is neither able to put the premises to the intended use nor make up its mind to return it to the government.
Eight years after the foundation stone was laid for the administrative block on the site, the buildings are yet to be completed for full use by the university.
Further, the 50-plus students staying in the already constructed hostel building are facing acute shortage of water.
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Besides, it is a tough call to leave the existing campus which is centrally located beside the Public Gardens in Nampally. “Our library and hostel buildings are located in Osmania University as of now. The plan is to shift the library to the Nampally premises, and enter into a lease agreement with OU for construction of a new hostel building. That way, distance travelled by students will be manageable,” said Vice-Chancellor E. Shiva Reddy at a press meet here on Friday. The university might use the Rs.10.5 crore released by the UGC for this purpose, as the funds ought to be utilised in five years. Another proposal in the offing is to construct a museum to house valuable paintings and artefacts owned by the university.
Nevertheless, the university has already written to the government for grant of Rs.15 crore for completion of buildings at Bachupally campus.
Funds for the university are hard to come by. Though the budgetary allocations have been increased by Rs.5 crore for the current year to a total of Rs.16 crore, the actual requirement for smooth running would be around Rs.26 crore, Prof. Reddy said. This is just a fraction of the Rs.100 crore recommended by the National Accreditation Committee as annual budget for the university.
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