HYDERABAD: If all goes well, Telangana may soon get a forestry university of its own. The forest department of the State would soon be presenting a proposal to this effect to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
The plan is to develop its Forest College and Research Institute (FCRI) into a university. It may be noted that the proposal has already been cleared by the Governing Board of the college, headed by the Principal Secretary of Environment and Forest department.
FCRI is presently affiliated to Osmania University (OU) and will be seeing its first batch graduate from the institute next year.
According to a senior forest official, if the college is converted to a university, it would help the institute get more Central funds. “It would also help in the propagation of research in subjects related to forest conservation,” he added.
“We cannot be affiliated to the agricultural university, because of the policy restricting granting of affiliation by the university to prevent private colleges in agriculture education. Moreover, agriculture, horticulture and veterinary have separate universities run by the respective departments. Forestry is a specialised subject, but we are forced to be affiliated to a conventional university," the official further stated.