Trees felled inside Nrupathunga varsity, students file complaint

The students of Nrupathunga University in Bengaluru have alleged that the authorities of the university have felled many trees on campus to make way for the construction of new building blocks.

The protest saw some alumni joining together to file a complaint with the officials at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

Speaking to DH, Narendra N, an alumnus of the Government Science College Bengaluru, which is now a unitary university, said, "The authorities have chopped over 10 trees inside the college campus for the purpose of construction of the academic block."

Narendra, who filed the complaint before the BBMP, urged that an inquiry be conducted. "This plan was there when we were in college. After learning about the same, we decided to stage a protest last year. The campus is one of the very few lung spaces in the heart of the city and that too is under the threat of being destroyed," says Narendra.

The students have also raised objections to the demolition of the old college buildings which hold heritage value. "Though there is a clear instruction from the University Grants Commission to retain the heritage structure of the building, the authorities have violated the same and demolished one of the oldest buildings," said Narendra.

When asked, Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof Srinivas Balli agreed that the University has chopped down the trees, but after getting clearance from the authorities. "We have got clearance from the concerned authorities, including the forest department. The team from the forest department had visited and inspected the campus before cutting the trees," added Balli.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently visited the campus for the inauguration of the University and the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the construction of the administrative block.

In 2020, the state government had bifurcated the Government Science College alongside the Government Arts College and constituted Nrupathunga University. It is one of the three unitary universities constituted by the government.