Buoyant with its resolve to make Jharkhand an education hub, the State Government touched another milestone today as Chief Minister Raghubar Das laid foundation stone of the Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University building at Dhanbad on Monday. The university will be the seventh State-run university after Jharkhand Raksha Shakti University, foundation of which was laid on Sunday in Khunti.

Addressing a gathering during the foundation laying ceremony, Das said that the demand for Koylanchal University was due for long and the government fulfilled it paying tribute to late Binod Bihari Mahto. The CM said that the University will be active in two months and by 2020, its construction will be completed.

The Government has already sanctioned funds for the construction of the university and two days back the director of BIT Sindri, DK Singh, has been appointed as the acting Vice Chancellor (VC) of the new university.

The CM went on to say that the Government in last 1000 days has established four universities and 53 colleges. “A separate secretary has been deputed for higher education. Against establishment of three medical colleges in 40 years, the Government has established three medical colleges only 1000 days and in the next two months, foundation stones of three more colleges will be laid. A Women’s University will soon come-up at Jamshedpur,” he said.

“For Higher Education the government is going to conduct an education centered International Conference in February 2018 with a view to make the people aware of education emphasising technical, commercial and livelihood oriented education. After defining the domicile policy, the government has given appointments to nearly one lakh people. Very soon 50 thousand more appointments will be done,” he added.

The CM said that the government wants Dhanbad to be in top 10 cities and everybody’s help was required for that. Apart from building flyovers, the government will provide filtered water to the residents by using CSR funds. Coal India ltd has been told about it and work will be started soon. He said that displaced people will be rehabilitated and given land rights.

The new university being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs 348.50 crore on a stretch of 25 acres of land is set to ease a huge burden from Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh, which covers about 50 colleges and 96,000 students from Dhanbad and Bokaro districts.

At least 48 colleges spread across Dhanbad and Bokaro district would be cut off from Vinoba Bhave University (VBU) Hazaribagh and would come under Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University. Apart from that, the university will also have a couple of law colleges and a medical college as its constituents, said officials.

HRD Minister, Neera Yadav, Raj Kishor Mahato, son of Binod Bihari Mahto, Dhanbad MP, PN Singh, Giridih MP, Ravindra Pandey and MlAs Dhullu Mahto, Arup Chaterjee, Phulchand Mandal, Raj Sinha, Additional CS Amit Khare along with other officials were present in the programme.