Three days to go, Governor halts shifting of health varsity

By Rashmi Belur  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 17th March 2017 05:44 AM  |  

BENGALURU: Governor Vajubhai Vala, who is also the Chancellor of universities in the state, has put the brakes on the state government’s move to shift Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) from Bengaluru to Ramanagara.

It comes as a major embarrassment to the government which attempted to bulldoze the university into shifting the campus.

The university had even printed the invitations for the inauguration scheduled to be held on March 19. Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was to preside over the function and Energy Minister and Ramanagara District incharge Minister D K Shivakumar was to inaugurate it.
The Governor has issued an official communication directing RGUHS Vice-Chancellor Dr K S Ravindranath not to shift the campus.

Raj Bhavan sources told Express that late Tuesday, the Governor had called the Vice-Chancellor to Raj Bhavan and issued a letter asking him to stop the shifting process.

When contacted, Ravindranath confirmed it and said, “I have received a communication from the governor asking not to shift the campus now keeping in mind students’ interests as examinations are on. I have communicated this to the Medical Education Minister and Ramanagara District in-charge Minister and also the principal secretary to the Medical Education Department.”

Consequently, the preparations for shifting the campus to a temporary building at the Deputy Commissioner’s office at Ramanagara have been stopped.  Ravindranath said, “We have to put the scheduled event on hold until we get further communication from Raj Bhavan.”

When asked about the development, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil only said, “We will look into it.”