With the reorganisation of districts in Andhra Pradesh, the establishment of the Central Tribal University (CTU) has been delayed again.
Earlier, the land for the construction of the university had been identified in Mentada mandal, which now falls under Vizianagaram district. It is the demand of those hailing from the Parvathipuram-Manyam district to either shift the university to their district or conclude the construction as soon as possible.
The Union government had sanctioned a CTU for the coastal state under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Rs 834 has been allocated, Rs 420 crore has been sanctioned for the first phase of the set-up of the university in Vizianagaram district.
The previous state government, under Telugu Desam Party's N Chandrababu Naidu, had identified 525 acres at Relli village in Kottavalasa mandal of Shrungavarapukota constituency for the university. A compound wall at the cost of Rs 10 crore was constructed. With the change in government, work on the university came to a standstill. The YRSCP government established the varsity in a transit campus of Andhra University in 2020 and Prof Kattamani was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor..
The academic and administrative activities of the university for the academic year 2019-2020 had commenced. Additionally, various locations at Saluru, Parvathipuram and Gajapathinagaram constituencies were identified and inspected by the district administration, chief secretary and UGC (University Grants Commission) officials.
While the authorities have finalised the land at Chinamedipalli village of Mentada mandal and Marrivalasa village of Dattirajeru mandal. However, Mentada has been retained in Vizianagaram district in the districts' reorganisation exercise.
The tribals from Parvathipuram Agency succeeded in their attempts to bring the university from Kottavalasa to Mentada mandal under Saluru Assembly Segment (ST), post-reorganisation, the university comes under Vizianagaram, which has the least tribal population.
Speaking to TNIE, Tummi Appalaraju Dora, a tribal leader said, "The Central Tribal University is the dream of the tribesmen in erstwhile Vizianagaram. Though the previous government constructed the compound wall for the site meant for the university at Relli village in Kottavalasa mandal, the YSRCP government shifted the university to Mentada mandal, as it would be convenient to the tribesmen in Parvathipuram. However, with Mentada mandal merged with the new Vizianagaram district, we urge the government to either complete the construction of the university at Mentada at the earliest or shift it to the newly carved out Parvathipuram-Manyam district."
