CM will lay stone for Urdu varsity campus in January, says V-C

‘Govt. allotted 144 acres and sanctioned ₹18.4 crore for the institution’

Vice-Chancellor K. Muzaffer Ali Shahmiri showing the master plan of the proposed university campus.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu would lay foundation stone for Dr. Abdul Haq Urdu University campus at Orvakal in January 2018, its Vice-Chancellor K. Muzaffer Ali Shahmiri said on Friday.

The government allotted 144 acres of land for the university and sanctioned ₹18.4 crore for construction of an academic block, women’s hostel, internal roads and a temporary boundary wall, Prof. Muzaffer Ali told the media here in the university seminar hall. The A.P. Education Welfare and Infrastructure Development Corporation would complete the works within a year.

A master plan was prepared with an estimate of ₹100 crore for construction of the university campusand was forwarded to the State government for sanction of funds, he said.

Chairman of Apex Group of Companies in Dubai, S.P. Singh Oberoi, has promised to contribute ₹4 crore for development of the university, he said. Letters were being addressed to the University Grants Commission for grants and philanthropists soliciting their contribution for the university, the Vice-Chancellor said.

‘90% students

are women’

Administrative and academic blocks, library, conference hall, faculty quarters, women and men’s hostels were planned on the campus. Abdul Haq Urdu University is the only Urdu university in the State and has 176 students pursuing eight courses, of whom 90% were women, Prof. Muzaffer Ali said. The university was awaiting Cabinet approval for appointing 35 faculty members. It presently has 10 contract lecturers and nine guest lecturers.

The university has eight courses at present and planned to introduce integrated courses in applied sciences and skill development next year, university Principal Khasim Ali Khan said. Registrar Shahida Akthar, a former Executive Council member of Acharya Nagarjuna University, who assumed charge on Thursday, said she was the State-wide coordinator for five computer courses.

Refutes charges

The Vice-Chancellor refuted charges of irregularities levelled by YSR Congress Kurnool constituency in charge M.A. Hafeez Khan recently. The university was allotted only five classrooms and five office rooms on Osmania College premises and it was shifted to a new sprawling rented premises on Gooty road in Kurnool, he said.

The Registrar Sattar Sahir, who came on deputation from Sri Venkateswara University, had gone back citing personal reasons in August this year and a new Registrar was appointed in his place, he said. University Accountant Gopalakrishna Murthy, faculty members and some students took part.