IUC at Kakinada JNTU sidelined

Hyderabad: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the prestigious Inter University Centre for teacher training at Banaras Hindu University in his home constituency of Varanasi, the IUC proposed to be set up in JNTU Kakinada has gone cold.

Last year, former HRD minister M.M. Pallam Raju had laid the foundation of the Rs 300-crore IUC in JNTU, Kakinada, his then constituency, but after the change of guard at the Centre, nothing has moved forward.

Sources in the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) said the IUC may not materialise and added there have been no discussions at all.

The proposed IUC was supposed to serve as a centre for training of teachers from across South India. The University Grants Commission had also said that the IUC will come up at JNTU-K.

At that time it created a storm after AAP leader Yogendra Yadav raised objections over allocation of the IUC to the JNTU-K since it was Pallam Raju’s constituency.

But, Mr Raju Raju failed in his bid for re-election and from then on, the project has seen a downward spiral.

And now,  its chances of coming to reality are almost nil as Mr Modi announced an IUC for BHU under the rechristened Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission.  

The provisions of the mission also leave little chance for another IUC. Sources revealed that a director for the IUC at  was also appointed, but was shunted out after the elections.

JNTU-K authorities are also clueless about the project. Registrar G.V.R Prasad Raju said, “We had a few workshops on teacher training, but beyond that nothing happened. We have not received even one rupee till date.”