Funds, land shortage put a spoke in vet college projects

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 10

The Uttarakhand government is finding it exceedingly difficult to set up eight veterinary colleges due to a financial crunch and a persistent problem of non-availability of land.

The announcement pertaining to the colleges was made during the course of the Congress rule in the state. In the last three years, Harak Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture and Medical Education, has announced not only eight veterinary colleges, but also seven medical colleges and five agriculture colleges in the state. Most of these projects have not been delivered.

Coming to the veterinary colleges, a team from the GB Pant Nagar Agriculture University, after carrying out a survey of a site in Gauchar for a veterinary college, in its report, has found the site inappropriate. “The site does not possess proper water supply and even the land available is inadequate,” said the report.

The report has said that in order to set up a veterinary college, the government will require at least 60 acres of land and around Rs 360 crore for one veterinary college.

The report has also trashed the budgetary estimate presented by Bursar-based horticulture university, which had also undertaken a survey and had put the estimates at Rs 26 crore.

The proposal has come at a time when the Uttarakhand government is already up in arms against the Central Government for imposing a funding pattern that has all but squeezed it.

The high cost of the proposal stands in contrast to the minuscule budgetary outlay the state government makes for the highly rated GB Pant Nagar Agriculture and Technical University. The budgetary allocation for ongoing financial year for both the GB Pant Nagar University and Bursar based horticulture university stands at Rs 50 crore.