Former Speaker opposes proposed tourism village on Palampur agri university land
Former Speaker of the state Assembly and Sullah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar today asked Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to give a second thought to his decision on setting up a tourism village on the land of Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University. He said the government had already transferred 112 hectares of prime land of the institution situated on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway.
Parmar said the CM must respect the sentiments of university teachers, students and public who were opposed to setting of the tourism village on the university land.
Talking to the media, Parmar said he was not against the tourism village in Palampur, but an educational institution should not be deprived of its valuable land given for educational purposes.
He reminded the CM that Chander Kumar who holds the agriculture portfolio in the present government had opposed the government’s decision. Kumar had stated that if the university land was given to some other department it would shut the scope of expansion of the university. Parmar said he had also raised the issue in the Assembly. He regretted that in the past one year the state government had failed to appoint a regular VC in the HP Agriculture University. Instead of acquiring university land, the Chief Minister should focus on the appointment of new VC, Parmar added.
He said a proposal for setting up a Central Agriculture University in Palampur was in the pipeline. The government should also take up the issue with the Centre instead of focusing on tourism, he added. Parmar said there was an urgent need to setting up an agriculture engineering college on the university campus.
