Jairaj: Save Central College from metro

Jairaj: Save Central College from metro

BU VC requested to constitute an alumni association to take up important issues

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore



The relentless advent of Namma Metro gobbling up premier space drew opposition from an unexpected quarter on Thursday. Additional chief secretary in power department K Jairaj threw his weight behind those who were out to protect premium public spaces facing threat from the rapid mass transit system.
And Jairaj had a reason to feel aggrieved: the metro work would soon be posing a threat to his alma mater: the Central College campus, which was once the nerve centre of Bangalore University.
The Bangalore University alumnus on Thursday shot off an SMS to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) managing director N Sivasailam. He was visiting the Central College campus to lecture on 'Karnataka's Power Scenario — Issues and Challenges', jointly organised by Bangalore University and the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC).
"I SMSed Sivasailam: 'For God's sake don't mutilate Central College'. I was horrified to learn that the metro was taking away a part of the college. I also request Prof N Prabhu Dev, Bangalore University vice-chancellor, to please look into the matter and stop the work,'' Jairaj later said.
The bureaucrat also lamented the absence of networking among the Bangalore University alumni, unlike other modern universities like Harvard, which have strong alumni associations and networks. He urged Prabhu Dev to constitute an alumni association and utilise people like him to take up important issues like saving the campus from the depredations of Namma Metro.