The Bharatiya Bikash Parishad has demanded a thorough investigation into the illegal and arbitrary hire of a private building at Kanisi village on the outskirts of the city by the Khallikote Cluster University (KCU) authorities.
The Parishad, among other things, demanded immediate cancellation of the move to shift the Varsity to the rented building at the behest of some vested groups and take stringent action against those errant Government officials.
When the construction work of Academic Block at a cost of Rs 5 crores, Sports Council wing at cost of Rs 5 crores and toilets at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore have already been started, instead of completing the building in time, on whose interest the KCU is going to shift its campus to a private Kalyan Mandap on a rent of Rs 8.25 lakh per month is a debatable issue, Parishad president Surendra Panigrahi said.
He also demanded to unearth the nexus between the State Higher Education Department and the Vice-Chancellor Prof Mishra and a band of KCU officials in the matter.
The Parishad demanded that a Kalyan Mandap which is currently under the BeMC should be handed over to KC University for its day to day function, instead.
As the BeMC is already having a Kalyan Mandap, why the KCU preferred for a rented one, the Parishad questioned.
According to information available, at the behest certain vested groups, the State Government recently approved decision of the syndicate of the KCU to run its operations from a private building located on the outskirts of the city without tender as reportedly recommended by a committee and the KCU Vice-Chancellor.
Since the decision to move to a well furnished private building was made public, there are a tremendous reactions from different social organisations, student bodies and civil societies protesting the move. The decision too has not gone down well with the locals as they consider the move as a sheer wastage of public fund as Rs 1 crore per year could be put to better use.
Moreover, the KC University currently consists of 25 students and 35 teachers and few staff members. How the university is not able to accommodate such a meager population in the existing building was questioned by the Parishad.
When the University is unable to pay salary to their staff for months, how the same university could afford to take a building on rent of Rs 1 crore per year, the Parishad said.
The Parishad, on the other hand, also alleged that there is a deep rooted conspiracu by the university Vice-Chancellor and some vested groups to close down the university.