Dharamsala: With just a year is left for holding of the Lok Sabha Elections, the Kangra -Chamba parliamentary seat can become a headache for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after the Central Governments decision to reject construction of the main campus of the Central University at Dharamsala.
The main reason cited for taking such a decision is that Dharamsala is a heavy rainfall zone and is an earthquake prone area, which appears to a political conspiracy to completely remove the Central University campus from Dharamsala.
Himachal got the Central University in the name of Dharamsala, 13 years ago and for the last 10 years, a political conspiracy was started to gradually shift it from Dharamsala to Dehra and just before the next Lok Sabha elections, CU is being shifted completely from Dharamsala to another area for political gain there, while at the same time an IIT was sanctioned for Mandi has not only constructed but is functioning well for the last many years.
The government orders said that Dharamsala is an area of extreme rainfall and it falls in an earthquake zone. On it senior BJP leader and ex CM HP Shanta Kumar said,”Palampur has similar amount of rain. When two universities, an Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT) are working in close vicinity of Dharamsala at Palampur why can’t a CU function at Dharamsala?”
Shanta Kumar further added, “All are excuses, it is the ineptitude of the politicians that the institution which was allotted 12 years back could not be established till date, it is unfortunate.”
Leader of the opposition and ex CM of HP Jai ram Thakur said, “Rain could not be the excuse to shift a national institute from Dharamsala, if it is then we have to shift the entire Dharamsala city from its place.”
BJP MP from Kangra Kishan Kapoor too asked the central ministry to re-think on the subject.
MLA of Dharamsala Sudhir Sharma said, “Himachal’s only Central University has been stuck in politics for the last 12 years. There has been fierce politics in Dharamshala, Dehra and Shahpur regarding its campus. Now politics will not be allowed on this subject .This city has a fundamental right to the Central University.
He added, “When the central government approved 13 central universities in 2009, conspiracies against Dharamshala started and BJP leaders are guilty of taking Central University away from Dharamshala. BJP leaders have always double crossed the public on this issue. BJP was in power in Himachal and Delhi for the last five years, so why was this project not cleared?”
Sudhir Sharma further said, “ Tibet’s government-in-exile can run from McLeodganj, so why not the Central University ? Dharamshala is the only city from where the entire country of Tibet runs in Exile . All the security agencies are here. The name of this city is known all over the world. Apart from this, the famous old degree college of the country is here. The Himachal Board of Education operates from Dharamshala. Dharamshala also has B.Ed College, JBT Institute. The city has world class coaching centers for the students. There are one thousand hotels. Many of these have five star facilities. The most busy airport of the state is here. If Dharamsala is unfit for any construction all these buildings and organizations should also be shifted from here. The centre should know that This city has a fundamental right to the Central University, and we will get it” said Sharma.
A retired IAS officer settled in Dharamsala said that the British government established army cantonments in the city around 100 years back. The District headquarter Dharamshala came into force in 1847, then why this drama for the establishment of the CU here? The public of the Kangra district is totally aware of the leaders working behind it , and they will reflect their decision in the coming general elections.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
This is incompetence on the part of political leaders.They can only spoil the show