Saturday, Jun 26, 2010
University yet to acquire 100 acres of land allotted to it

• The land allotted at Varkodu is deemed aforest, says official
• VC to submit master plan with an appeal to district administration

Mysore: Dr. Gangubai Hangal University of Music and Performing Arts will commence its activities in ‘Aloka', a heritage building in Yelwala, from this academic year. 'Aloka', a royal hunting lodge, is located about 15 km from Mysore and is surrounded by 60 acres of forest land. Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) used to conduct classes in the building for some time.

The music university will function from the building till it gets land for creating infrastructure.

In a meeting held on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta directed the Public Works Department to send an estimate of emergency repairs to be taken up on the building.

Vice-Chancellor of the university Hanumannanayak Dorai said there was no problem in commencing classes in ‘Aloka'.

Dr. Dorai explained to Mr. Gupta the problem the university was facing in acquiring 100 acres of land allotted to it at Varkodu village in Varuna hobli in August 2009 owing to an objection raised by the Department of Forests.

Mr. Gupta said that boundary of the land sanctioned to the university would be identified, and as the land had already been “handed over” to it, there were no obstacles in commencing work on creating infrastructure.

However, Assistant Conservator of Forests Gopinath explained that it was necessary for the university to take permission of the Department of Forests to start the work as the land in question was deemed a forest. The land had been transferred to the department for plantation purpose. To transfer the land to the university, the State Government had to obtain the approval of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment, he said.
To this, Mr. Gupta told Dr. Dorai that there was a provision under which the Regional Office of the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment could accord approval for construction of building on 5 hectares of such land. He suggested to Dr. Dorai to prepare a master plan for creating infrastructure and submit the same to the Department of Forests seeking permission to start the work. Dr. Dorai said that instead of appealing directly to the Department of Forests he would to urge the district administration to resolve the issue at the earliest.

Agreeing to his proposal, Mr. Gupta told Dr. Dorai to submit the master plan with an appeal at the earliest.

Senior officials of the departments of Revenue, Public Works and Forests, and Registrar of the university N.M. Talwar participated in the meeting.