The repeated requests of the State government to the Centre to fulfill its promise of setting up a tribal university in Telangana may see the light of the day as the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has submitted a draft Bill for the purpose to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats for introduction in the current session.
The university was promised in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act during bifurcation of the State but not implemented in the last eight years despite significant progress in giving it a shape in Mulug district.
A Detailed Project Report was submitted by the Hyderabad Central University to the Ministry of Education which examined the proposal along with Finance Ministry and NITI Aayog. It was estimated to cost ₹865 crore and enroll 2,500 to 3,000 students in five years of its inception.
The State government acquired 335 acres for the university near the Gattamma temple at Mulug district headquarters village in 2018. It included 169 acres of government land, 115 acres of assigned lands whose owners were already paid a compensation of ₹15 crore and 50 acres of forest land for creating green spaces.
The university was conceived with the idea to start six programmes initially with an intake of 30 students each under the aegis of Hyderabad Central University. A 30 per cent reservation should be created for locals on a supernumerary basis as an exception to the Central Universities Act.
Former Education Minister Kadiam Srihari had represented to the then Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar to enact a legislation on local reservation in view of the poor experience from Indira Gandhi Tribal University at Jabalpur which had only seven per cent quota for STs.
A Secretary of HRD Ministry R. Subrahmaniam had visited Mulug in December 2018 to examine the land and a building of the youth services department for skill training at Jakaram for commencement of classes in 2019-20 but it made no headway. Prior to that, a delegation of the Ministry headed by Joint Secretary Sukhbir Singh had visited the district in 2017 February and surveyed the land allotted near Gattamma temple.
The government handed over 268 acres, including 115 acres of assigned land, to the Project Officer of ITDA at Eturunagaram for the university.
After the coming up of the university, Mulug will be richer by one more achievement. The Ramappa temple in the district had already been recognised as World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
