Land encroachment in Rajiv Gandhi University premises irks many

Itanagar : Rajiv Gandhi University celebrated 37th Foundation Day on Tuesday at campus in Rono Hills, Doimukh under Papumpare district of Arunachal Pradesh. Governor BD Mishra and chairman, Higher Education, government of Uttar Pradesh, GC Tripathi graced the occasion as chief guest and guest of honour on the valedictory function respectively.

Remembering the individuals who worked hard to establish the university back in 80’s, former RGU vice-chancellor Tamo Mibang, Incumbent vice-chancellor Saket Kushwaha, pro-vice chancellor Amitava Mitra and registrar Tomo Riba spoke about the journey from no university in Arunachal to a Central university today.

The programme began with national anthem, lighting of lamps followed by traditional songs by the students of the university.

Rajiv Gandhi University (formerly Arunachal University) is the premier institution for higher education in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Late Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, laid the foundation stone of the university on February 4, 1984 at Rono Hills, where the present campus is located.

The University is located atop Rono Hills on a picturesque tableland of 302 acres overlooking the river Dikrong.

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The land for the university campus was donated by four villages communities that include Amchi, Doimukh, Rono and Lekha village.

Talking to EastMojo, Nabam Apo, who is the village headman of Amchi village, said, “We feel so happy and proud when we meet alumnus of this institution in various departments under government of Arunachal Pradesh as officers.”

“The land was donated for this institution so that students from all over the country can come and build their future. However, the university campus is now getting encroached slowly which I am totally against. This encroachment should be stopped as soon as possible by the department concerned,” said the village headman.

The University got academic recognition under section 2(f) from the University Grants Commission on 28th March, 1985 and started functioning from 1st April, 1985. It got financial recognition under section 12-B of the UGC on March 25, 1994.

The University was converted into a Central University with effect from 9th April 2007 as per notification of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

The University is located atop Rono Hills on a picturesque tableland of 302 acres overlooking the river Dikrong.

“As of now, the university has 32 departments after inclusion of eight new departments last year. In the next five years, we are planning to increase the number of educators to 500,” said vice-chancellor Saket Kushwaha.

He also said that out of the eight departments which we have started last year, 5 are related to agriculture keeping in mind that the people of this region are still engrossed in agricultural activities.

We are also planning to add five more departments in another year including artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining and forensic science, said Kushwaha.