Tribal varsity is just a step away

Warangal: Finally, it appears like that decks have been cleared for the establishment of long-awaited Tribal University near Mulugu in Bhupalpally district. Further, it’s going to be a double bonanza for Mulugu, which is soon going to be the headquarters of a new district.

Although the then UPA government had proposed to set up a Tribal University in Telangana as part of AP Reorganisation Act-2014 during the bifurcation in 2014, the promise never got off the blocks. This despite the Centre had allocated a token amount of Rs 10 crore in the 2017-18 Union budget.

In fact, the proposal for setting up a tribal university in Telangana region dates back to 2008. The then Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy proposed a tribal varsity in Bhadrachalam Agency of Khammam district. 

Even though an expert committee from Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) had visited the Agency to study the feasibility, the proposal didn’t make headway. The varsity proposal came to fore again only during the bifurcation of the State and the then UPA government promised to set up a tribal varsity each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Since then there was a demand from the people belonging to two predominantly tribal districts - Khammam and Adilabad. However, the State government chose the erstwhile Warangal district. Later, the administration had identified land near Gattamma temple, 1 km from Mulugu (now in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district), adjacent to National Highway-163.

Against this backdrop, Secretary of Higher Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development R Subrahmanyam, who along with his team visited the proposed land on Monday, said: “The land is ideal for establishing tribal varsity.

The Youth Training Centre (YTC) here can be used as makeshift administrative office and classrooms so that to commence varsity operations from the next academic year.” It may be mentioned here that varsity requires a minimum of 500 acres. According to officials, land admeasuring 498 acres belonging to revenue and forest departments is available in Mulugu mandal.

Of the 498 acres, the revenue officials had already handed over 169 acres to the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA). The government had urged the Principal Chief Conservators of Forest (PCCF), Telangana Government, for the diversion of 213 acres forest land for the proposed tribal varsity. The government assured to transfer same extent of land to the forest department in lieu of the said land.

Meanwhile, the Adivasi Students Union led by its State president Mypathi Arun Kumar, which met the  HRD Higher Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam, urged him to set up the tribal varsity in Eturnagaram where about 3,000 acres of government land is available.