Central team visits site for tribal varsity

Vizianagaram/Visakhapatnam: Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana on Tuesday said the Tribal University would come up in Vizianagaram if the Centre agreed to the proposals. The University would start functioning from next academic year, he hoped.

A team of officials of the Union government on Tuesday visited Kothavalasa and Gunkalam villages in the district to inspect the proposed site for setting up Tribal University. Minister Narayana accompanied the team. They inspected the land allotted by the State government and examined the place. Zilla Parishad Chairperson G Swathirani, MLA Meesala Geetha and District Collector M N Nayak also accompanied the team.

Central team visits Sabbavaram: The Central team also visited Sabbavaram , about 60 km from here on Tuesday for inspecting a site needed for the establishment of Girijan University. The team rejected a site shown to them at Pachipenta in Vizianagaram district. Now two sites were shown to them afresh which included one in Sabbavaram and the other in S Kota Mandal in Vizianagaram district.

In Sabbavaram mandal a site measuring 500 acres was shown to them under Vangali and Antakapalle panchayats. The officials from Hyderabad Central University and University Grants Commission, Principal Secretary of Central HRD Sumitha Dhavan, senior engineers and surveyors from both Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts participated in the survey. They enquired about the availability of the government land and the extent occupied by the local villagers for cultivation.

The local officials informed them that 300.44 acres of government land was available in Antakapalle panchayat and 431 acres in Vangali panchayat. They also told the officials that a small extent of land was occupied by the villagers for cultivation. Earlier 300 acres was given to animal husbandry department and 110 acres for setting up of Indian Maritime University. The visiting members told the local officials that they needed 500 acres in one place and later proceeded to S Kota Mandal to inspect another site.