Minister for Education Altaf Bukhari today informed the Legislative Assembly that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (UMHRD) has requested the state government for providing alternate land for the construction of the permanent campus of Central University Kashmir.Responding to a calling attention notice by Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar, the Minister said following the communication from MHRD, the University has been asked to stop all the constructional activities at the present site till the visit of the Project Monitoring Unit of MHRD.He said though the university had made some progress on the development of infrastructure at the current site Tulmulla and was planning to shift some departments to the designated sites, but the process was put on hold following the instructions of MHRD.
He assured the legislator that the university will be established in Ganderbal district only and urged him to provide suitable land for the purpose.The Minister informed that earlier the government identified 665 Kanal land in Wandihama and Gulab-bagh village, of which 298 Kanal in estate Wandihama is under possession of Animal Husbandry Department and accordingly, the department was requested to issue NOC for transfer of the said land to Higher Education Department.However, he said the Director Animal Husbandry Department has expressed inability of the department to part away with the said land as the same would imply closure of prestigious Frozen Semen Station.He said now the Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal has been requested to identify/ acquire suitable land for the purpose.
Earlier, the Minister informed that owing to many hindrances, the construction agency faced many problems to expedite the work of varsity campus buildings at the designated site Tulmulla. He said there were hindrances like frequent stoppage of construction works by local villagers demanding government jobs, hindrance in the transportation of construction material through a nearby village and low load-bearing capacity of the land, which required deep pile foundation with high foundation cost.He said the quality of the land forces the University to fill the site with the good earth for land development as the land was marshy and not fit for the multi-storey building construction. He, however, said the Project Monitoring Cell (PMC) of the University, NBCC and University Construction Wing succeeded in making headway in respect of Pre-Engineered Buildings- I and II and single storey building (prototype) which were expected to be handed over to the University by March 2018.