ANU up in arms against CMO on varsity campus

While students, academics of Acharya Nagarjuna University are vehemently opposed to the move to locate Chief Minister Camp Office on the campus, politicians are making moves for it

Vijayawada: The students and the teaching staff of the Acharya Nagarjuna University are opposing the Chief Minister’s Camp Office on the university campus. Amidst reports about keenness of Chief Minister-elect and Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu to have his camp office in Seemadhra, particularly on the university campus, there is growing unrest among the students and the teaching staff.

University students and teaching and non-teaching staff have formed “Acharya Nagarjuna University Protection Committee” to oppose the idea of shifting the campus to locate the capital for the residuary State. They have been condemning every proposal of shifting the university to Ongole where they have a PG Center spread over 100 acres, and using the existing campus for the new capital. With the proposal yet to take off, the students and staff are keenly following the developments.

There are reports that Chandrababu Naidu wishes to have his camp office to be close to the people, and hence the interest in the ANU campus. The students and the teaching staff feel that the camp office set up would disturb the academic activities of the university. “We are worried about that news though there is no authenticity to it. There is no official communication on having CM’s camp office here. However, if there is any such proposal, it would disturb the total academic activity on the campus,” a senior staff member said.

There is a strong demand in this region among the political and industrial circles to have the new capital here and it is for this strong political will, the teaching staff members are unwilling to raise their voice firmly. However, they are opposing the idea and the students too have joined them.

University non-teaching staff association president Koduru Kanaka Raju told The Hans India that there is no official communication on having the new capital or the CM’s office here. “The real estate people here are spreading the news to make money. But, if the CM’s camp office is established here, we welcome it as that would help us reach him and get our problems solved. There are several non-teaching staff working here for years together on daily wage and contract system and the new CM would understand them if the camp office is opened here,” he felt. When asked about the possibility of academic activities getting disturbed with the camp office, Kanaka Raju observed that “an experienced and visionary leader like Chandrababu Naidu would not disturb the academic activities. He will examine all these issues before taking a decision.”

A retired lecturer of Andhra Loyola College, Dr M C Das, felt that the camp office would disturb the academic activities of the university. “The university picked up academic direction from the time of Prof Y C Simhadri and it picked up momentum with the initiatives of Prof Balamohan Das and Prof Venugopala Reddy. Present vice-chancellor Dr K Viyanna Rao is doing a good job,” he said, remarking that is not advisable to have the camp office on the campus of any educational institution.

He further felt that the new government should make use of the common capital facility and concentrate on building capital without wasting time and money on temporary arrangements. “In the era of information technology, the government can be available to the people online. There is no need for the CM to be here as the common man does not meet him every day. It is the politicians, industrialists, businessmen and contractors who would meet CM on daily basis and he can be in Hyderabad too,” he felt.

However, former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji, felt that the university campus could be used for temporary or permanent capital for the residuary State. He brushed aside the argument that the camp office would disturb the academic activities. He said that the academic activities could be carried out from the campuses such as the SRR and CVR College in Vijayawada, JKC College in Guntur and other affiliated colleges,” he felt and observed that the university could be shifted to Ongole to serve Guntur and Prakasam districts. He also added that more than 45 engineering colleges around Vijayawada and Guntur were available for acquisition to establish government offices.

He felt that the new government should think of “Optimum utilization of limited resources” concept and make use of the available resources without investing more on creating additional infrastructure.