Jammu, July 23 : The NC today tried to clear the air regarding the shifting of the proposed central university from Jammu to Srinagar, saying that the controversy was being raked up by vested interests.
Senior NC leader Ajay Sadhotra said that it was unfortunate that disgruntled elements were raking up a controversy over the location of the central university and trying to mislead the common people by making false and provocative statements.
“They say that the central university has been shifted from Jammu to the valley, but it was not true, the location of the university has not been decided as yet and the central committee headed by a joint secretary of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, which is to decide the location, has not even visited the state to see the locations. Even the process of identification of a site by the central authorities has not been started as yet,” Sadhotra said.
Sadhotra said it was decided by the Union Government in 2008 that 14 central universities and six IIMs would be established across the country and out of these one central university and one IIM shall be located in Jammu and Kashmir. To this objective the state government formed a committee headed by the then Planning Commissioner which identified six locations across the state, where the Central University could be located, which included Sopore, Budgam and Pulama in the Kashmir region and R.S. Pura, near Nandani Tunnel and Samba in the Jammu region.
Sadhotra said the revenue papers of all these six locations were prepared and sent to the Ministry of HRD, Government of India, with a request to send a team to visit all six identified locations and then take a decision about the suitability of the site for the location of the university.
As the central committee for site selection was yet to visit the state, there was no question of taking any decision regarding the location of the site, the NC leader claimed.