Report on land for Aligarh Muslim University’s Maharashtra centre expected next week

Almost two years after the Centre announced an Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) centre in Maharashtra, the state is expected to give its report on the availability of land for the project.
The state revenue department will submit its report on the land for the centre next week.

The announcement to set up five AMU centres in as many states was announced in 2009 during the Union budget. While the state governments were to give land for the project, the Centre was to provide the funding.

Apart from West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kerala, campuses were to be set up in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

The delay in building a Maharashtra campus has angered Muslim groups and when there was no progress in the project, community organisations had met chief minister Ashok Chavan. Some had filed Right to Information (RTI) applications.

One of them, Dongri resident M Khalid, filed two applications. The reply to his April 2010 application shocked him. He was told that there was no proposal by the state to set up an AMU centre here, and no land has been made available.

The latest by Khalid, reply to which was given on January 10, says that while AMU has not been given land in Maharashtra, the state cabinet has not even approved the project. “People are being fooled. How can you start the project without getting the sanction of the cabinet?” he said.

State minorities affairs minister Naseem Arif Khan said that a few months ago, the AMU wrote to the state asking for land.

“They need 200 acres, and two months ago, I had called district collectors to identify land for the campus. They are expected to give their search and survey report next week,” said Khan.

The three probable locations for the campus are Navi Mumbai, Pune or Nagpur.