Burial ground on BU campus!

Burial ground on BU campus!
The Times of India

Bangalore: A burial ground on a university campus? Strange. But Bangalore University has been quietly making way for the dead on its campus from the nearby village.

Reason: Villagers don’t want the burial ground to be shifted as they have been using it for years now. Two acres of land has been earmarked for it on BU campus. The university has been battling with the government and various organisations against encroachment of its 1,111-acre campus at Jnanabharathi.

The problem is so grave that the university has now put up a compound wall at the cost of a whopping Rs 3 crore, to safeguard its campus.

Exasperated, the university’s syndicate passed a resolution last week, to completely ban granting of land to any institution. “No more land for anyone. Such is the shortage of space for the university that it does not have any land left for construction of quarters for its own non-teaching staff,’’ university vice-chancellor M.S. Thimmappa told The Times of India.

Similarly, though 400 acres of land was earmarked for the Biopark, which will accommodate national character research centres, the university was forced to reduce it to 300 acres. Again due to lack of land. Of the total 1,111-acre BU campus, only 568.19 is occupied by its departments. As many as 243.11 acres have been given away on long-term lease to various institutions, which pay an annual rent of just Rs 100!.

Naturally, since the land is available at a throwaway price, many institutions and organisations including some newly established universities approached BU for allotment of land to them. According to sources, there have been instances where even the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and government departments issued orders granting BU land for schools, colleges and even shopping complexes. “People would just start construction on the campus citing government orders (GO). We had a tough time vacating these encroachers and were forced to approach the court to retrieve our land,’’ sources said.

The university is, however, banking on the 1996 Justice A.J. Sadashiva’s order which ruled that land allotted for one public purpose (to the university) should not defeat another public purpose (for residential layouts).

As an officer put it: “Besides safeguarding the interests of our students, we have to protect our campus land too.’’

LAND DEALS
Total land of BU: 1,111.30 acres Land used by the university for its own departments: 568.19 acres Land allotted to various organisations: 243.11 acres Land given for Bio-park: 300 acres