Following protests from local residents, the construction of the boundary wall of the Ravenshaw University’s second campus here at Brajabiharipur of the satellite city of Markat Nagar came to a grinding halt on Thursday.
Claiming that the land allotted to the university by the Government belongs to them, hundreds of villagers halted the construction of the boundary wall and asked the workers to refrain from constructing any permanent structures on the disputed land.
“We have obtained a decree from the court to stop any constructions on the disputed land”, the villagers said adding that the matter was earlier discussed with the university authorities and the Works Department (WD) was asked to stop work.
“The WD has been asked to construct the boundary wall in the undisputed areas”, said university Vice-Chancellor Dr PK Saranagi. He said the land was allotted to them by the Government and the Government might have negotiated with the local residents.
It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in June 2015 had laid the foundation-stone of the second campus, which is to come up over a sprawling area of 120 acre to ease the pressure on its present crowded campus, which was built way back in 1868 as that of a collegiate.
While attending the annual function of the University Students’ Union function in 2015, Patnaik had announced a grant of `30 crore for the new campus. The university authorities had, however, placed an initial demand of `300 crore for the project.