The Hindu Business Line : ‘Central varsity to come up in Vizag’

Visakhapatnam, May 28 The Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Ms. D. Purandareswari, confirmed here on Wednesday that the Union Government had taken a decision to set up a central university here, but there was no proposal to set up an Indian Institute of Management.

The Minister, the daughter of the late N.T Rama Rao, was here to unveil the statue of her father on the occasion of his eighty-sixth birth anniversary.

For sometime now, a controversy has been raging here over the reported move of the State Government to shift the central varsity originally sanctioned for Vizag to Kadapa, the native district of the Chief Minister. In the backdrop, the Minister made it clear on Wednesday that there was no such move and the central university would be set up here and developed as a centre of excellence.

Responding to a query about the proposal to set up an IIM here, she said that as the central university had been sanctioned for Vizag, there was no possibility of setting up the IIM here. In fact, she said, the State may not get the IIM, as a balance had to be maintained among all States in setting up these institutes of higher learning.

On the question of upgrading the college of engineering in Andhra University to an IIT, she said that efforts were being made to arrive at a consensus on the issue, as a number of seats in the upgraded institution may have to be allotted to non-locals. When it was pointed out to her that the number of seats could be increased, as was done in Kerala and West Bengal, to facilitate upgrading the college, she said that had been done before an announcement was made regarding the OBC quota. She said that may not be possible now and the modalities were being worked out.

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