Atmosphere in A’bad division becoming tense over university bifurcation

Aurangabad, May 28:

The atmosphere in the Aurangabad division is becoming tense gradually over the bifurcation issue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu).

It may be noted that there is long pending demand from the residents of Osmanabad district to have a separate university because of the distance between Bamu’s city campus and Osmanabad.

There are four districts in the Aurangabad division, namely Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Osmanabad. Colleges from all divisions were affiliated with Bamu.

Bamu administration established a sub-centre in Osmanabad which has several departments, considering the demand. The State Government set up a committee to study the demand a year ago but, it did not start the study because of Covid. With the decline in Covid cases, the panel visited Osmanabad recently and met representatives of local social, political and educational organisations.

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Anger in Ambedkarite organisaitons

Ambedkarite organisations members are angry over the demand of Osmanabad people. They feel that this is a disrespect to the university which was named after Dr Ambedkar. Meanwhile, ink was thrown on Management Council member Sanjay Nimbalkar who is from Osmanabad and was on the city campus to attend the MC meeting on Friday.

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Repercussions in Osmanabad

After this incident, political and social leaders from Osmanabad, cutting across the line across the party, were united for a separate university. Demonstrating on Saturday, they said that 30 per cent of students cannot take higher education because of distance and a poor economic condition in the district. This is also causing a rise in suicide cases.

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There are 440 colleges in the four districts with 4.50 lakh students. The city and Osmanabad sub-centre have 52 departments with more than 3,000 students.

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Imp developments

--The university was established on August 23, 1958,

--Marathwada’s University name extension as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University done in 1994

--Demand for a separate university at Osmanabad was made in 2003 first time

--Bamu started a sub-centre in Osmanabad in 2004

--State Government set up a committee in 2021

-The panel visits Osmanabad and takes reviews of facilities, and infrastructure on May 24, 2022.