Protest against proposed ‘tourism village’ on Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University land

Palampur, July 28

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The Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University Teachers Association (HPAUTA) and students of different colleges of the university yesterday staged a protest against the state government’s decision of allotting 112 hectare university land for setting up a ‘tourism village’ on the university campus.

The protesters took out a procession at the university, demanding the immediate scrapping of the decision of the state government.

They staged a dharna in front of the office of Vice-Chancellor and submitted a memorandum to Acting Vice-Chancellor DK Vatsa, calling for the withdrawal of the NOC given to the state government for taking over university land.

Addressing the media, HPAUTA president Janardan Singh said there was no justification for setting up a ‘tourism village’ on the campus of an educational institution.

The decision would not only hamper the smooth functioning of the university, but would also affect students, he added.

He said he strongly opposed this move of the state government. The government had pressured the Acting Vice-Chancellor to transfer the land despite opposition from teaching and non-teaching employees, Singh alleged.

He added that if the government failed to review its decision, the HPAUTA would move the High Court.

“HPAUTA is not against the setting up of a ‘tourism village’ in the Palampur region. However, it should not be set up in a premier educational institute. Setting up a ‘tourism village’ at the university will affect the academic atmosphere of the institute. We have already requested the Chancellor of the university and the Governor to not allow the setting up of the ‘tourism village’ on university land,” he said. “It is entirely inappropriate to allocate this vital land of the agricultural university to set up a ‘tourism village’, and the association has been openly opposing this decision since January.”

Abhay Verma, a student leader, claimed that all teachers and students of the university were against the allotment of land for the ‘tourism village’ from the very first day. The government should reverse its decision, he said.

He added that the university had already transferred a large chunk of land for the opening of Vikram Batra College, a science museum and a helipad.

Student leaders had recently met local MLA Ashish Butail and handed over a memorandum requesting him to reconsider the decision, he added.

Meanwhile, representatives of the ABVP and the HPAUTA met former chief minister Shanta Kumar and submitted a memorandum of their demands to him. However, the government has still not addressed the concerns of students and teachers.