Centre gives nod to set up CUHP campus in Dehra

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 22

The Union Ministry for Human Resource Development (HRD) has granted approval for 88 hectare non-forest and forestland proposed by the state government for the Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) campus at Dehra.

Highly placed sources here told The Tribune that the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests had also granted approval for converting the said forestland for bringing up the campus of CUHP.

The 88 hectare land includes 35 hectare non-forestland that has already been transferred in the name of CUHP during the stint of previous BJP government. Sources said 35 hectare non-forest land that had already been transferred in the name of CUHP is located on Dehra-Jawalamukhi road.

Now, the state government has to accept the approval of the Union HRD Ministry for bringing up the CUHP campus at Dehra.

The issue of land registered in the name of CUHP also cropped up during the recently concluded winter session of Himachal Assembly in Dharamsala.

The government while responding to a query from Ravinder Ravi had admitted that the land was registered in the name of CUHP.

However, the CM had maintained that the state government was in favour of single campus of CUHP anywhere in Kangra district instead of two-campus theory proposed by the previous BJP government.

He had attacked the BJP for politicising the issueof the location of the CUHP campus.

Sources said the state government was in favour of locating the CUHP campus in Dharamsala. The Minister for Town and Country Planning, Sudhir Sharma who is close to the CM and now represents the Dharamsala Assembly constituency was lobbying hard for keeping the CUHP campus here.

It was under his influence that the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre in which about 400-acre land was proposed for the campus in Indrunag area of Dharamsala.

However, the proposal has been rejected by the committee appointed by the Union HRD Ministry.

Meanwhile, the CUHP authorities were pressing for early resolution of the issue for their campus, as the government college Shahpur building provided to them for running the campus temporarily was inadequate. The university authorities also alleged that senior faculty was not joining the institute due to inadequate infrastructure.

BJP MLAs meet Irani

Four BJP leaders — BJP MP from the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency and national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Anurag Thakur, former minister and MLA from Dehra Ravinder Ravi, BJP MLA from Jaswan Pragpur Bikram Thakur and BJP MLA from Kutlehar Varinder Kanwar — met the Union HRD Minister Samriti Irani today to request her to lay the foundation stone of CUHP campus at Dehra at the earliest.

Ravinder Ravi while talking over the phone admitted that the Union HRD Ministry had granted approval for bringing CUHP campus in Dehra. He said Irani had assured them that the foundation stone of the CUHP would be laid soon.

Ravi said 35 hectare forestland in Dehra was registered in the name of CUHP during the stint of previous BJP government. Since the land had already been registered in the name of CUHP and the HRD Ministry had granted approval for it, the state government should allow the construction of institute campus over there, he said.