Proposed Knowledge Park on Hyderabad campus sparks row

HYDERABAD - The decision of the University of Hyderabad to lease out 200 acres of land for Knowledge and Innovation Park (KIP) on the campus has sparked a row with a section of teachers and students strongly opposing the move.

The protest by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the faculty, non-teaching staff and students and the support extended to them by the opposition parties has forced the authorities of the central university to put the project on hold.

Vice Chancellor Seyed E. Hasnain said though the project has not been scrapped, he would not take any further step to set up the park. “I want the project in the interest of the university but now it is for the Andhra Pradesh government to take a decision because it is a bilateral project.”

The campus Monday witnessed protests by JAC, which was also supported by the Telugu Desam Party and Communist Party of India-Marxist. Following the protests, the executive council decided to put the project on hold.

While vice chancellor says the KIP to be developed in partnership with the state government for promotion of research activities would help the university to raise much-needed funds, the JAC alleged that the university was “selling away prime land to outsiders”.

The research and development project has been evolved by the university in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) to generate funds through encouraging research activities by private organisations on the land leased by the university.

According to the vice chancellor, the project would generate Rs.100 crore and help in strengthening the corpus fund. The university will hold 89 percent stake in the project while the remaining 11 percent is owned by APIIC.

“There is no question of land being taken away in future. This is a non-profit venture and not a special economic zone as some teachers allege,” he said.

So far eight companies - seven biotech and one IT - have evinced interest to set up their research centres at the park.

Denying the JAC charge that the university land was being sold to private companies, Hasnain pointed out that University Grants Commission (UGC) had reduced annual non-plan budget of the university from Rs.20 crore to Rs.9 crore.

He argued that if corpus fund is dried up, welfare programmes will be affected. Benefits of teachers, including foreign tours, will have to be cancelled if enough funds are not available.

The JAC, however, feels that the vice chancellor should approach President Pratibha Patil for required funds instead of ’selling’ land.

“The university is selling Rs.4,000 crore worth of land to raise Rs.100 crore,” said JAC convenor N. Purendra Prasad.

The JAC leaders argue that no other central university in the country has given its land to private companies to raise funds.

One of the top ranked universities in India, the University of Hyderabad was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1974 as a central university, wholly financed by UGC.