The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a separate Development Board for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka, which was granted special status recently. It also nodded for the transfer of 300 acres of Defence land to the HRD Ministry for establishing the permanent campus of Bihar Central University in Gaya.
HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, who last week resigned to lodge his protest against the division of Andhra Pradesh, skipped the meeting.
The separate development board approved comprises six backward districts of North Karnataka — Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal and Bellary in the region.
The Constitution Amendment Bill with newly added Article 371-J, passed by Parliament last year, provides for establishment of a separate Development Board and equitable allocation of funds for development of the region with provision for reservation in education and jobs for locals.
This apart, the Cabinet approved the permanent campus of Bihar Central University in Gaya by allowing transfer of land part of an abandoned airfield at Panchanpur in Gaya to the HRD Ministry to set up the campus infrastructure.
The Central University of Bihar is among the 16 newly- established central universities by the Central Government under the Central Universities Act. It is presently located at the premises of Birla Institute of Technology in Patna.