Under instructions from Deputy Commissioner (DC) Palamau Manoj Kumar the Palamau district land acquisition officer (DlAO) K B Pandey on Saturday August 31 showed a new plot of land situated on the Daltonganj Betla National Park road 12 kilometers off district head quarter of Palamau to three officials of the Nilamber Pitamber university who included dean students welfare Rana Pratap Singh, proctor N K Tiwary and CCDC Radha Raman Kishore for agreeing to selection of this plot of land for constructing administrative building of this NPU.
The DlAO Pandey said the DC Manoj Kumar is too keen to facilitate the transfer of this chunk of land which is roughly around 41 acres and without any litigation to the university but Pandey reiterated that transfer of this plot of land is to be done on the approval/sanction of the cabinet alone as this plot of land is being retained by Vishesh Bhu Arjan Vibhag and has not been given to the original owner the Irrigation department. The DlAO further asserted that on this chunk of land stands no claim of any raiyyat as raiyyats taken out of here were suitable compensated in the past.
The plot sighting on this Betla National Park road was initiated by the DC Palamau as a part of an alternative exploration for land for this university as the earlier proposal of land at Teekulya on NH 75 is heading towards a jam lock following the hostile attitude of the raiyyats there while this Betla National Park road plot of land is free of any such tangle.
The DlAO said the DC wants two more institutions to come up here in close viccinity one the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and the other a government technical institute of which the lion share of plot of land will be of the NP university. The VC Firoz Ahmad and Pro VC A N Ojha of this NPU said that it is upto the Palamau district administration to provide us suitable and adequate land and if the district administration finds this Betla National Park road chunk of land suitable and adequate for this university then in that event the university will bring this matter before its Syndicate and subsequently the matter will be intimated to the Raj Bhavan and the HRD (human resources development) department in Ranchi.
Sources said the Raj Bhavan has started pursuing this land matter with the DC Palamau and quite recently the Principal Secretary Nitya Nand Sinha to the Governor Syed Ahmed had a talk with the DC Manoj Kumar on phone wherein Sinha asked the DC to expedite the land matter at the earliest. DC Palamau Manoj Kumar has confirmed this talk with the Governor's Principal Secretary on land issue and added that district administration is working hard on this alternative project of land in case the Teekulya plot of land does not come smoothly. The DC sounds quite skeptical of acquisition of land at Teekulya in the wake of stir fashion gripping the state like that of Nagri in Ranchi.
Sources said the Pro VC Ojha has been instrumental in drawing the attention of the Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister Hemant Soren towards this land crisis that this university is down with since the year 2009 when this university was notified by Raj Bhavan. Sources said Ojha first briefed the Principal Secretary to Governor and later on the CM Hemant Soren and both of them have assured the Pro VC of some tangible results sooner.
The DC Palamau Manoj Kumar told Pioneer that a two pronged work is on one for Teekulya land and the other is this Betla National Park road land and the latter one the Betla National Park road land is far easier to have as once the cabinet gives the nod of transfer of this land to the university the university will gain its titleship of land whereas in Teekulya there is a whole range of procedural work and in absence of the Commissioner Palamau whose post is lying vacant since June 30 this work is at the slowest of speed.