Decks yet to clear for RGUHS campus in Ramanagara

Despite the state cabinet's approval for the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) campus at Archakarahalli in Ramanagara district, the most ambitious project is yet to clear a lot of hurdles. There is no sign of the existing land litigation settling anytime soon.

The 12-year-old project is facing a lot of legal issues over the 70-acre land allotted. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and D K Shivakumar, minister for Water Resources, Kannada and Culture, both assured to resolve the issue at the earliest. Though this gave a ray of hope for the project getting kick-started, there is no sign of any positive development yet.

“Firstly, there was an issue over land acquisition, which went till the Supreme Court. Later, the land owners not satisfied by the compensation, demanded government jobs for their wards after the the university is set up. Now, again there is the land litigation, and people have moved court,” a senior RGUHS official told DH.

As a temporary arrangement, the varsity was given space in Ramanagara Deputy Commissioner's office to oversee the work. Since the project got delayed for years, they have shifted back to Bengaluru.

“The project was very much there. All we need is to settle the land dispute. Ramanagara, being the home constituency of the Chief Minister’s wife, we were expecting the project to be completed 50% by now,” the official added.

When asked about the current status of the project, Dr Sachidananda, vice-chancellor, RGUHS told DH: "We are all waiting for land to be handed over. We are ready to start the construction within three days. We need three years to complete the project. Probably by the academic year 2022-23 or even earlier, we are hoping to start the classes.”