Kalahandi residents irked over location of Central varsity

The Pioneer, 19th August, 2008
Pioneer News Service Bhubaneswar

Educated youth in general and intelligentsia in particular in Kalahandi district are angry with the Naveen Patnaik Government as their aspiration to have the State's first Central University at the district headquarters town of Bhawanipatna has been shattered.
The Chief Minister's recent decision to ask the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to set up the proposed Central University in Koraput instead of Kalahandi has irked the people of Kalahandi.
According to them, Bhawanipatna is more suitable for the university, but being allegedly misguided by political and bureaucratic advisors, the Chief Minister took the decision in favour of Koraput.
"The unusual behaviour of the Chief Minister indicates his loss of rationality," lamented Digambara Patra, leading voice of Kalahandi residents in the international forum. Prof Patra, in a letter to Patnaik, has charged him with political motive.
The Chief Minister has ignored the educationally backward areas of the KBK region in view of the impending elections, he has stated.
Prof Patra has said that the decision on the location of the Central University has been taken without studying the ground realities.
The decision is, therefore, hurting 'Kalahandias' most as they were lobbying hard with the MHRD for the Central University, while not a soul from Koraput ever raised a voice for it.
Prof Patra, who teaches in the American University of Beirut, has appealed to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh do justice to the people of Kalahandi by forcing the State Govt to change its decision and locate the world-class university at Bhawanipatna.