KV Correspondent

Editorial: CUK still remains a dream

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It seems that the date with controversy of the present dispensation seems far from over. The government is faced with yet another controversy and this time it involves establishing the campus of the Central University Kashmir (CUK).

The Central University which was to be established ion Ganderbal is still operating from various rented buildings spread in various areas on the city outskirts in Nowgam. Though the campus of the University was to be completed by now but surprisingly, the civil works on the proposed land are yet to begin.

The government had provided 4024 Kanals of land, mostly marshy, to CUK in Tulmulla. However, after spending lot of money on filling up many Kanals of land the engineers of National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) who have to set the construction work rolling recommended construction of only pre-engineered huts on the land.

The land being marshy in nature was termed as unfit for multi storey buildings and the engineers have recommended that only pre engineered or fabricated structures can exist on the land.

Established in 2009, the Central University has been functioning from rented accommodations at temporary places in Srinagar city thus spending huge amount on its rent, though a major part of the construction work on the central university Jammu has been completed.

The issue of land apart, the CUK is facing another hindrance as the locals who have staked claim over the land and have been partly compensated, have been demanding jobs in lieu of the land that they have been asked to provide for the campus. This being the reason that the locals demolished the civil works that were started twice in the campus area from Khurhama side.

The issue of kick starting the civil works in the campus is spinning into a controversy as the people of Ganderbal district have alleged that the government is trying hard to shift the campus to some other district. The reasons for such allegations have sprung up from the fact that Ganderbal district has been a strong bastion of the National Conference and they see the move as being taken deliberately by the present dispensation headed by their arch rival, the PDP.

However, putting an end to the speculation that the CUK campus will be shifted from district Ganderbal, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti announced that the question to shift the campus does not arise and officials in the district administration have been tasked to identify alternate land for construction of the campus.

The issue it seems as of now has died down, but the question to arrange for almost 5000 Kanals of land that too at one place in a district is an uphill task. That being the reason that the announcement of the Chief Minister of not shifting the campus has put the district administration in a tight spot.

The district officials are now contemplating to arrange the land in several patches in the vicinity so that the buildings of the entire project can come up nearer to each other.

However, the moot question still remains as to what action should be taken against the officials who in the very

first instance are responsible for identifying unfit land for construction purposes for this vital project.

 


KV Correspondent

Kashmir Correspondent cover all daily updates for the newspaper

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