CM allocates Rs 55 cr for cluster university in Mandi

Tribune News Service

Mandi, March 22

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said Rs 55 crore would be spent on setting up cluster university in Mandi district. The Chief Minister is on a two-day visit to lay foundation stones of various development projects in the district.

He said that out of total Rs 55 crore, Rs 11 crore each would be spent on Sundernagar, Drang and Basa under cluster university project and the remaining amount would be spent on the Mandi campus. He said the centre at Sundernagar would have school of applied sciences, management and pharmacy.

Speaking on the occasion of the prize distribution function of Maharaja Lakshman Sen Memorial Degree College, Sundernagar he said it was for the first time that about 30 new schemes had been announced in the state budget. He awarded meritorious students and exhorted them to work hard to achieve their targets. He said that Rs 50 lakh would be provided for construction of sports complex in the college.

“As many as 10 Adarsh Vidhya Kendras would be opened in different parts of the state to provide quality education to students. The state government has also proposed a new scheme for providing coaching to meritorious student for competitive exams, adding that the students passing out from their educational institutions would provide their old book to needy students under the ‘Pustak Daan Yojana”, he said.

“Mandi district is the second largest district of the state and special emphasis would be laid on the development of the district”, he remarked.

Targeting Congress, he said that “instead of focusing on quality education, the previous government announced opening of 16 degree colleges in the state with a provision of Rs 1 lakh each for every colleges. The purpose was clear — to gain political mileage, which made the mockery of the whole system.”

He said the present state government was not against opening of these institutions, but there should be rationale thinking for the same. There were many schools where teacher-student ratio was highly skewed.

He said that gratuity and leave encashment benefits for the staff of the college would be given to the teachers and staff of the college as per the norms in the St Bede’s College Shimla.

The members of HP Aided College Teachers Association presented a cheque of Rs 1.51 lakh towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

The CM laid the foundation stone of the additional block of Cluster University under RUSA. He inaugurated a collection centre building of agriculture department constructed at a cost of Rs 73 lakh and smart underground dustbin project worth Rs 4.46 crore. He laid the foundation stone of the building of regional lab of HP Pollution Control Board to be constructed at a cost of Rs 3 crore.

Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who accompanied the CM, said this would be the first cluster University which is as per the UGC norms.