Assam: Scarcity of land delays university status to Handique Girls' College in Guwahati

As the Assam government is mulling to introduce new bills to upgrade colleges in the state into universities, the hope of university status to Handique Girls' College seems to be a distant dream.

On June 16, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma amidst confusion related to proposed universities to make provisions for the accommodation of the concept of 'Constituent College', clarified that in the August assembly session, the Government of Assam will introduce bills to establish new universities in Sibsagar College, Kokrajhar Government College, Bongaigaon College, JB College-Jorhat, North Lakhimpur College, Nagaon College, and Gurucharan College.

However, the upgradation of Handique College will take time, as the college currently does not have adequate land. 

"We are in the process of finding land for Handique College," wrote Assam CM Sarma on his Twitter handle.

Also Read: Assam cabinet to introduce bills to establish new universities in state

As per sources, currently, Handique Girls' College is catering education to around 2,700 students and the college being upgraded to a university would require more land in terms of infrastructure.

One of the officials from the Handique Girls' College speaking in anonymity said, "Even we have seen the tweet from the Assam chief minister, however, till now we haven't received any official communication from the government on the same."

Earlier on June 16, Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu reacted to a circular from the Department of Higher Education to the Principals of eight colleges seeking amendments to be made in the Acts of the proposed Universities to make provisions for the accommodation of the concept of 'Constituent College'.

To this, the minister on Twitter wrote, "This is false news. Work is underway to upgrade these colleges to universities."