Several organisations urged the State government to take steps for the establishment of the Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh in the newly-formed Manyam-Parvatipuram district.
The outfits said the State government had initially planned to set up the institution in Mentada mandal of Salur Assembly constituency, but with Mentada now becoming part of a separate Vizianagaram district, the institution would go to that district which would deal a blow to the hopes of people of Manyam-Parvatipuram.
Andhra Pradesh SC/ST Upadhya Sangham president Samala Simhachalam said that the establishment of the university within Manyam-Parvatipuram district would benefit many students as the tribal population in the new district stood at 2.60 lakh out of a total of 9.50 lakh. “The tribal university needs to be set up only in tribal areas as it is the stated objective of both the State and Union governments. Manyam-Parvatipuram district has good road and rail connectivity which will be helpful for students from other regions to pursue their education here. The government should consider our request and allocate land near Parvatipuram for the institution,” Mr. Simhachalam said.
Girijana Sangham leader M. Tirupati Rao said that the establishment of the university had to be speeded up in the interests of the tribal students. “The then TDP government planned to set it up in Kothavalasa of Vizianagaram district. Later, it was shifted to Mentada mandal. The government should begin construction of the university only after first ensuring that there is good accessibility to the proposed site,” said Mr. Tirupati Rao.
Currently, the university’s temporary campus is functioning at Andhra University’s old campus in Vizianagaram. However, it only has a few courses and a limited number of students due to lack of space and infrastructure. In accordance with the A.P. Reorganisation Act, the Union government said it would allocate ₹3,000 crore to the State government for setting up the university once the site is finalised.
University officials said that once the initial problems are sorted out and a site finalised, the university would be built with state-of-the-art facilities along the lines of the Indira Gandhi Central Tribal University at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh.
