Murshidabad University to be established in Berhampore, deadline for the completion

Staff Reporter |TDN World

Kolkata: In a reply to an RTI query filed by Students Islamic Organization (SIO), the West Bengal Higher Education Department has said that the proposed Murshidabad University will be established and the location is selected in Berhampore.

Syed Azharuddin, SIO General Secretary, put out a photocopy of the RTI reply from his Twitter handle suggesting the continued struggle of SIO for establishing Univesity in the district Murshidabad.

At the behest of the organization, Said sarif Al Mamun, state secretary of SIO, filed an RTI application on February 11, 2020, where he sought information regarding the establishment of a University in Murshidabad as declared earlier by the West Bengal government.

In reply, the Department of Higher Education said that the Murshidabad University Act 2018 has been framed. The government has allocated Rs 1,84,54,000 for the construction of the boundary wall.

The historical Berhampore city is chosen as the location of the University, the education department said in the RTI reply.

Since the last three-four years, it has been a long-standing demand of SIO to establish a university in the district of Murshidabad.

Murshidabad is one of the backward districts in Bengal, with a population of 7.5 million, mostly dominated by the Muslims.

A majority of the people in the district work as day-labourer and are forced to migrate in other districts and states to get jobs. Students who happen to arise out of these poor families and crave for higher education while struggling with economic hardship are left with no option but to travel hundreds of KMS away from home.

It is often alleged that Murshidabad was deliberately kept in deprivation, and treated with discrimination both by the previous and the present ruling parties for being a Muslim majority district.

SIO waged numerous student movements, street rallies, seminars, published journals, and also submitted deputation a couple of times to the department of state education ministry urging the ruling TMC government to build a university in the district. Responding to the demand, in 2018 the government assured to build the proposed university after much outcry from the student's organization.

But, sensing a laxity in action in establishing the proposed university, SIO has filed an application under the Right to Information Act,2005 seeking the details of the present status of the declared university in Murshidabad.

The date of the completion of the University is not decided yet.

In the fourth RTI query, SIO wanted to know when the work would come to an end.The RTI reply said that the date is yet not finalized.

Sharing the RTI reply by WB govt. in its social media platform, SIO said they will launch a larger movement over the demand of the University in the upcoming month.