Govt to name East Midnapore varsity after Mahatma Gandhi

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to set up four more universities in the state. At the same time, the proposed university in East Midnapore will be named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Partha Chatterjee, the state Education minister, said: "The proposal of setting up four more universities in the state has been approved in the cabinet meeting on Friday. The four universities will be Jalpaiguri University, Alipurduar University, South Dinajpur University and Murshidabad University."

There are as many as 23 universities in the state at present and with the setting up of the four new ones, besides the one named after Mahatma Gandhi, the total number will go up to 28.

The plots where the universities will come up have already been identified and necessary task to develop the infrastructure will be taken up soon. The endeavour of the state government would be to initiate functioning of the state-run universities as early as possible.

It may be recalled that it was earlier decided to set up a university in East Midnapore. "In the cabinet meeting on Friday, it has been decided that the university in East Midnapore will be named after Mahatma Gandhi. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be laying its foundation stone on October 2."

The decision is yet to be taken on whether it would be a standalone university or if there will be some colleges under it.

There are universities in the state named after Kazi Nazrul Islam and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar. Now, the state is going to get a university that will be named after Mahatma Gandhi. The Mamata Banerjee government has taken up several steps in the past seven years for the development of infrastructure for higher education in the state. With the steps to set up four more universities in the North Bengal districts and Murshidabad, the students from the area will be benefitted as more options for higher education will open up for them. The students will be getting better opportunities and moreover, they wouldn't have to travel long distances for the same.