DDU in trouble due to lack of permanent building

The Dakshin Dinajpur University (DDU) is facing trouble for not being able to arrange a separate building to hold offline classes. At present, classes are being held in a portion of Balurghat Mahila Mahavidyalaya (BMM) which will allow classes only till November, 2023.

The DDU has applied to BMM for one more month due to unavailability of a

new building.

After the announcement of DDU in 2020, land for construction of buildings at Mahinagar was identified but due to lack of money no building was constructed. Instead of waiting, the university started working by renting a house.

Sanchari Roy Mukherjee was appointed as the first vice-chancellor (V-C) in 2021 and the session started via online classes due to the lack of rooms.

A few months ago, Debabrata Mitra joined as the new V-C. With his initiative, offline class started in an unused hostel of BMM but it was given till November.

Balurghat Municipality and district administration of South Dinajpur have taken the initiative to give a building to the university. The contract, however, could not be completed because the rent of the building was excessive.

The district administration planned to give some rooms of Natya Utkarsha Kendra to the university but due to administrative complications, it has not yet materialised.

Amit Roy, DDU registrar, said: “We have asked for a building from the municipality but we cannot pay the rent. The district administration is supposed to give us a part of Natya Utkarsha Kendra but that is not final yet.”

Ashok Mitra, civic body chairman said: “We will discuss the matter regarding the rent of that building.”