Former Congress MLA Dr Vamsi Chand Reddy took strong objection to the decision to allow setting up of private universities in the state of Telangana.
Addressing the media, Dr Reddy said instead of focusing on the improvement of the government institutions, which are in a lamentable condition, the government is hell-bent on encouraging the private universities for some inexplicable reasons.
These private universities, which charge huge sums as fees make the education inaccessible to the poor and downtrodden, he said.
“The Telangana govt which is more interested in promoting private universities has even abdicated its responsibility to safeguard the assets of the government institutions,” Dr Reddy alleged.
He said the lands of Osmania University are publicly encroached upon by the land mafia and the government was not in a position to demarcate the university land by raising a compound wall.
Consequently, he said, even the husband of a TRS GHMC corporator had brazenly resorted to grabbing about 2000 sq yards of land belonging to the University and no action had been initiated against the person.
“While the OUTA (Osmania University Teacher’s Association), students, and the alumni are waging a united fight to safeguard the university lands, the government seems not so serious about the curbing menace of land mafia on campus,” he said.
Reddy also alleged the involvement of influential leaders, including a national level leader from BJP in the land-grabbing.
Stating that as much as 8000 sq yards of land had been grabbed, he added that only one case of a former judge who reportedly encroached a parcel 311 sq yards is being highlighted.
Dr Reddy demanded a CBI probe into all the complaints of land-grabbing under the jurisdiction of Osmania University