BHOPAL: A ruling BJP MLA from Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh has offered to donate land for establishing a college – whose establishment remains a distant dream despite being announced by the state’s chief minister Mohan Yadav over a year ago.
On March 6, 2024, while addressing an agricultural and cooperatives meet in Bhind district, the CM had announced opening a new college in Nayagaon area of Bhind assembly constituency.
With the announcement yet to be actualised on the ground over a year later, the third-time local BJP MLA Narendra Singh Kushwah raised the issue during the question hour in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.
“The announcement to open the new college was made on March 6, 2024, but nothing has happened on it more than a year later. My assembly constituency neighbours UP and is partially urban and partially rural. There are 70 villages whose youngsters don’t have a college in the vicinity. Why isn’t an announcement being made to start the college from next academic session,” Kushwah questioned.
Responding to his own party MLA’s queries, the higher education minister Inder Singh Parmar said, “In the past opening new colleges without proper preparations has led to problems related to resources and adequate space. The process is underway on the CM’s announcement that we've written to the Bhind district collector for adequate land, once we get it, there will not be problems in starting the new college.”
The MLA responded back saying, “You at least announce that the new college will be ready in the new session, the land will be given by me. I’ll give you government land and if that isn’t there, I will donate private land for the college, but you at least announce the start of the new college from the next session.”
Congress demands CBI probe into alleged scam
Meanwhile, on the seventh day of the nine-day budget session of the State Assembly, the opposition Congress MLAs led by the leader of the opposition Umang Singhar and his deputy Hemant Katare attacked the state government over the recovery 52 kg unaccounted gold and Rs 11 crore cash from a car on Bhopal’s outskirts in December 2024.
While alleging a major scam in the state transport department in the wake of the enormous gold and cash recovery in December 2024, besides the subsequent arrest of the ‘crorepati’ ex-transport department constable Saurabh Sharma, the Congress MLAs demanded a CBI probe into all the inter-related events, including who were behind the Sharma’s appointment in the transport department on compassionate grounds in 2016.
But with the government not buckling under their pressure during nearly an hour debate on the issue during the zero hour, the Congress first trouped into the well of the House and later walked out.
Importantly, the entire matter is currently being probed by multiple agencies, including the state’s anti-corruption wing, the enforcement directorate, the income tax department and directorate of revenue intelligence.
The seventh day of the ongoing budget session also saw the Congress MLAs staging a unique protest near the Gandhi statue in the Vidhan Sabha premises. Alleging that the state government was sleeping over the issue of rising corruption, the Congress legislators played harps to wake up Ramayana’s famous character Kumbhakarna, which was enacted by one of the MLAs Dinesh Jain.