Kochi: In the
wake of central aid announced in the Budget for setting up the AMU
off-campus centre in Kerala, Muslim organisations demand that the
state government take immediate measures to accelerate the arrival
of the campus in the state.
The government
should complete the land acquisition immediately and hand over the
land to the Aligarh Muslim University, said the Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind. If the state government continued its negative approach in the
matter, the organisation warned, it would organise agitations,
together with like-minded people and organisations.
The state
government is not doing anything creative to solve the
discrimination faced by the Malabar area in education. The
government can easily acquire the land at Panakkad, but it is
adamant on the land at Perinthalmanna, which is sure to be tangled
in the legal cobweb since the land owners have approached the court
against acquisition, the JIH state secretariat said.
The state
government should accelerate procedures to set up the AMU off-campus
centre at Malappuram, said Kanthapuram AP Abdul Qader Musliyar,
general secretary, All India Jam’iyyathul Ulema. Since the central
government has allotted Rs 25 crore for the purpose, now it is upto
the state to act quickly. If the campus is lost because of the
negligence of the government, that would be the biggest treachery
towards minorities in the history of the country, he added in his
statement.
As the central
government has allotted Rs 25 crore for the AMU off-campus centre,
the government should take immediate action to ensure not to lose
the campus, said the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation. If
the government tries to curb the higher education dreams of Malabar,
the state secretariat of the organisation warned, it would organise
strong protests.
The Aligarh
Muslim University has selected Malappuram district in Kerala among
four other places in the country to set up its regional campuses.
The state government had earlier planned to acquire 200 acres of
land at Panakkad and written to the AMU about it. But later the
government changed its plan stating that the Industries Department
had already handed over that land to a public-private company.
However, later it was known that the land had not yet been
transferred to any agency, and that it was still under the state
government.
In the meantime,
the government decided to acquire 400 acres of land at
Perinthalmanna for the purpose, but the land is in some legal
disputes. Moreover, the land-owners have approached the court
against the acquisition. The acquisition procedures have not yet
begun.
Though it is
clear that there are no problems with the land at Panakkad, the
government wants to acquire the land at Perinthalmanna. It is feared
that the campus may be lost for Kerala if the procedures are not
completed soon.
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