Nagpur: Students of Agriculture College in city hit streets in protest against PDKV proposal to sells its prime land to NMC and other government departments. The students under the banner of Agrovet-Agro Engineer Mitra Parivar also strongly opposed the proposal of Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) to transfer part its land along VIP Road to NMC. The civic body plans to construct a jogging and cycling track on the land.
The Agrovet-Agro Engineer Mitra Parivar has launched a campaign to oppose sell of open land by PDKV. Accordingly, the organisation and large number of students of Agriculture College staged ‘chakka jam’ (road blockade) at Maharajbagh Square. The agitation hit traffic for some time. The protest was led by organisation’s President Dilip Mohitkar, Secretary Pranay Parate and Congress Corporator Kishore Jichkar. At the outset, the protesters gathered in front of statue of Panjabrao Deshmukh situated at Maharajbagh and raised slogans against the ruling party for its plan to grab PDKV land. The students and leaders also opposed proposal of PDKV to transfer part its agriculture land along VIP Road in Ramdaspeth near Vanamati.
The NMC is planning to construct a jogging and cycling track on the land. The protesters demanded that the PDKV land at nearby Kachipura should be freed of encroachments and the jogging and cycling track should be constructed there.
It may be recalled the Akola-based Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) runs several institutes including Agriculture College in Nagpur. The PDKV-run Agriculture College has total 446.21 hectare land including Maharajbagh. Out of this land, 59.39 hectare land was already given to some government and semi-government institutes. Moreover, a huge land besides More Bhavan Bus Stand was transferred to NMC for construction for road construction. Apart from this, a 26.69 hectare land belonging to Agriculture College at Bajaj Nagar, Shankar Nagar, Ramdaspeth has been occupied by encroachers.
It means the Agriculture College has already ‘lost’ 86 hectare land. Now, only 360.13 hectare land has remained with the college. Currently, some offices of Metro Rail and MSEDCL are also situated on the agriculture department land. The land of Agriculture College is shrinking day by day. Hence the students of Agriculture College united and staged agitation to save the land.
The protest was participated by a large number of doctors of Veterinary College and Hospital apart from students.
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