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Malegaon:
Amid intense political pressure being built on the AMU experts to
finalise Khuldabad near Aurangabad as the final site for the proposed AMU
centre in Maharashtra, Noble Education & Welfare Society (NEWS)
through records giving details of the existing institutes and
other related details attempts to convince the AMU authorities one
last time so as to save the AMU Maharashtra from falling into a
major controversy and a certain catastrophe.
Stating that the AMU centres
established in five states of the country - apart from providing
education opportunities to the deprived and marginalised class,
should also serve as a channel to bridge gaps
between people belonging to different communities and regions, chairman of Noble Education & Welfare Society (NEWS) Aleem Faizee
says, "However, the manner in
which Aurangabad is being pushed for the proposed AMU
Maharashtra site is creating not only regional and communal rifts
but, if available reports are to be believed, is also giving birth
to inter-departmental and inter-ministerial fights."
"Moreover", he says, "Because of the
existence of hundreds of colleges, institutes, a university and
its sub-centre in the region offering a wide range of engineering,
medical and professional courses, the Student:College ratio in the
Marathwada and Aurangabad regions is a bit of concern for the
managements. Establishing the AMU centre here will worsen the
already disturbed statistics."
According to Navaid Akhtar, member
of Noble Education & Welfare Society (NEWS), the Govt. records show that besides
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad city
alone has at least 94 colleges and institutes including one Govt
Engg College, one Govt. Polytechnic, Marathwada Inst. of
Technology, Maharashtra Inst. of Technology, two Autonomous
Institutes of Engg, one Govt Medical College, one Govt Dental
College, two Women’s Engg Colleges, two Fire & Safety Colleges,
fourteen Private Engg Colleges, one College of Homeopathy, four
private Dental Colleges, number of Pharmacy colleges, College of
Management, College of Paramedical Courses and others.
"Besides these institutes, Aurangabad
also has the premium DOEACC Centre - the reputed
Computer Center setup by Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology and Mahatama Gandhi Mission's
Medical College and Inst. of Management", he says.
"Records of the entire Marathwada
region show that the region has a total of 684 colleges and
institutes - of them 314 are affiliated to Dr. Baba Saheb Ambekar
Marathawada University (Aurangabad), whereas 370 colleges are
affiliated to Swami Ramanand Teerath Marathawada University (Nanded)",
he added.
"Based on this data, where is the
scope left for the AMU centre in the Marathwada region?", asks Aleem
Faizee and says, "If anything is there in this region it is enmity
with other regions, dirty competition with other institutes,
direct conflict with the communal forces and a clear threat of
failure and disaster."
"As against this", he says,
"Locally, Malegaon does not have any engineering college, any
medical college, any management college and not a single
government institute. Whatever institutes are available, either
govt. or private, they are available in Pune, Mumbai, Jalgaon or
Aurangabad - all located more than hundred kms away. If Nashik
City - a good 105 kms from Malegaon, has few colleges, most of
them are private and hence are unaffordable for the deprived and
marginalised classes."
Agreeing that the decision to
finalise the location - whether it is Aurangabad or Malegaon, lay
solely with the AMU experts, Navaid says, "By showing these
records we just want to make available in front of the AMU experts
a clearer picture of the region so that they
look into considerations all aspects, ground realities, local
needs, potential at the ground level, future prospects and above
all, the motive with which the AMU had taken the historic decision
to establish its sub centers, before taking any final decision."
Meanwhile, local
Congress leader and former Maharashtra Legislator Shaikh Rasheed
blamed Minister of Minority Development Department Arif Naseem
Khan and his deputy Mrs Fauzia Khan of politicizing a campaign
which was "completely an educational issue" and announced to sit
for a day-long dharna demanding establishment of the AMU centre in
Malegaon.
"Arif Naseem Khan
and Fauzia Khan had unnecessarily politicized the AMU campaign
which was kept alive by the NGOs of Malegaon. Instead of
supporting the movement, they behaved improperly and tried to make
the entire project controversial", he said while announcing
tomorrow's protest plan.
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