Silver lining: UP's Azamgarh to have its own university by 2023

VARANASI: Despite legendary littérateurs and poets hailing from Azamgarh, the district has been in the limelight for wrong reasons, including terror connection of some of its youths. However, all this is set to change as the district will soon have a university to cater to the academic needs of the youth of not only Azamgarh, but also of neighbouring districts.
With the foundation laying of the university by Union home minister Amit Shah in presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on November 13, the construction work will begin on around 50-acre land with a budget of over Rs 108 crores.The university will become operational by June 2023.
Site plan of the proposed university
Setting up of a university has been a decades old demand of the people of Azamgarh as despite being a hub of institutes of higher education, the colleges here were affiliated to the Gorakhpur University and later Jaunpur. “Thankfully, the government realised the need and decided to establish a university here, which will bring opportunities for advanced studies for local youths,” said a senior research fellow at Shibli Academy, Umar Siddaqui.
According to divisional commissioner Azamgarh Vijay Vishwas Pant, the Union home minister and CM will be performing the rituals of foundation laying of the proposed university in Azam Bandh area on November 13. “They will later view an exhibition of the model of the proposed university campus,” he said, adding, “They will also address a public meeting at the same venue on this occasion.”
Providing details of the project, district magistrate Azamgarh, Rajesh Kumar said, “The decision to establish a university in Azamgarh was taken by the CM in March 2019, after which 49.42 acre land was arranged in Azam Bandh area. The cost of the approved project is Rs 108.05 crores and PWD has been assigned to execute it with an aim to complete it in 18 months from the laying of foundation.”
Giving details of the varsity’s structure, regional higher education officer Varanasi, Gyan Prakash Verma said, “The number of state universities in UP is 18, including three residential universities in Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur and two for distance learning. The CM had announced three universities for Aligarh, Saharanpur and Azamgarh. The university to come up at Azamgarh will also be an affiliated university. About 400 colleges, including 247 of Azamgarh and 153 of Mau district will be affiliated to it. These 400 colleges have a base of 2.66 lakh students.”
“The colleges will continue running regular courses,” said Verma, adding, “On its own campus, the proposed university will offer vocational studies related to skill development in black pottery, terracotta, food processing and agro-based industry, dairy technology, nursing, pharmacy and handloom in consonance with the National Education Policy 2020. It will also have a school of advanced learning, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.”
Meanwhile, the news has enthused almost all sections of the society in a politically vibrant Azamgarh. A social worker Dr Piyush Yadav said, “The district has been associated with Maharshi Durvasa. It has also nurtured a number of legendary litterateurs, poets and academicians, including Hindi travelogue Rahul Sankrityayan, Acharya Ramchandra Shukla, Shibli Nomani, Kaifi Azami, among others.”
He added, “It has also been represented by politicians with criminal background and some of its youth have been associated with terror outfits, the links were exposed after the Batla house encounter of 2008. The district not only failed to get desired development projects including a university, but its image has also been distorted. Now, a university will change its negative perception.”