No plan to set up agricultural university in Punjab: Centre

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30

No new agricultural university is coming up in Punjab, at least in the near future, replied the Minister for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, in reply to a question posed by Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann during the ongoing session of the Lok Sabha in New Delhi today.

The Sangrur MP had asked whether the government was contemplating setting up a new agricultural university in Punjab to give a boost to agricultural education. In his reply, Tomar said: “There is no such proposal for setting up a new agricultural university in Punjab by the government”.

Mann had also asked if the government had allocated funds to encourage education in agricultural universities located in Punjab, in reply to which Tomar said: “Financial support of Rs 110.30 crore has been provided by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana, during the period of 2017-18 and till date for strengthening and development of the universities”.

The question gains importance in the context that there was a talk in the academic circles, during the earlier years of the current state government, that the state had planned a new agricultural university on the patterns of GADVASU which came up in 2006. The PAU too had lost about one fourth of its campus and related administration activities.

A section of the agriculture experts say that the university can consider the option of setting up new centres for areas such as horticulture, however it will not be wise to set to set up a new university.