By P.T. Bopanna
Madikeri MLA Mantar Gowda’s bold stand against his own Congress government’s proposal to close down Kodagu University has to be commended.
On the face of it, it looks like that the Siddaramaiah government wants to close down the universities started by the previous BJP government due to political reasons.
The excuse given by the present Congress regime is that the universities are “non-viable” due to inadequate infrastructure and financial issues.
While appreciating the bold stand taken by Madikeri MLA Mantar Gowda (in picture), wonder why Virajpet MLA, A.S. Ponnanna, who also belongs to Congress has not been vocal in opposing the government’s move to merge Kodagu University with University of Mysore.
Mantar Gowda noted Kodagu University is a source of pride for the district and he pledged to preserve the university. Kodagu University has a campus of 100 acres and 25 colleges are affiliated to it.
The Madikeri MLA said he had already discussed the matter with the chief minister and the Kodagu district in-charge minister.
Mantar Gowda went to the extent of saying that he was prepared to allocate funds from the MLA development grant and also try to mobilise funds from CSR contributions from private sector.
Meanwhile, Kushalanagar Kodava Samaja has warned of demonstrations against the move to merge Kodagu University.
Siddaramaiah government has already announced an airport project for Kodagu. It looks like there is no application of mind in announcing the airport project. It will be an environmental disaster to go ahead with the airport project after the 2018 landslides witnessed by Kodagu.
The government should immediately scrap the airport project and release additional funds to Kodagu University.
