State Universities in Andhra Pradesh are facing a huge threat in the form on AP CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
Jagan, who is hell bent on selling off government lands to raise funds for his Navaratnalu and development activities, is eyeing universities, which possess huge extent of land in cities.
Normally, any university will have a huge campus.
The subsequent governments over the years have allotted hundreds of acres to state universities keeping in mind the future expansion needs.
The enrollment of students in universities in Telugu States is already lower as the dropouts after degree courses is huge.
The Centre and state governments are taking several measures to increase enrollments at university-level.
In this backdrop, it requires huge extent of land for future expansion activities in universities to meet future demand.
However, Jagan seems to be not concerned about higher education expansion in AP but seems to be more concerned about his Navaratnalu, which fetches him votes.
In AP, all the universities possess lands in prime cities, which command huge real estate value.
Though AP government owns thousands of acres of land in various districts, the demand from buyers is low as they are located in mandal and rural areas.
Realtors are vying to buy lands of universities as they are located in cities.
With this, Jagan has reportedly decided to start selling off government lands with universities.
However, universities are autonomous and governments cannot take such decisions on their own. It requires to seek approval of the University Grants Commission, which is a tough task.
But Jagan is learnt to have asked officials to amend the rules to cut the autonomy of universities to enable government to sell off lands.
Jagan’s moves will result in halting of growth of universities in AP in the future, which is a dangerous trend.
