RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: In a bold move, the Hithakarini Samajam Trust, founded by social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu in 1906, has urged the State government to take over Hithakarini Samajam and its assets and all the educational institutions under it, set up a women’s university in the name of Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu and his wife Rajyalakshmi in Rajamahendravaram.
A resolution has been unanimously passed in this regard at the Hithakarini Samajam Trust meeting convened by chairperson Kasi Bala Muni Kumari. Speaking to TNIE, Muni Kumari felt that any delay in taking over of Hithakarini Samajam Trust and the educational institutions would defeat the purpose for which the great social reformer founded it. The Hithakarini Samajam Trust and educational institutions were taken over by the Endowments Department in 1986. Unfortunately, it has failed to run the trust and the educational institutions on sound lines, resulting in the collapse of the institutions, she said.
Kandukuri started Hithakarini Samajam by donating his properties worth Rs 41,500 to it and registered it under the Registration of Societies Act 1860 on May 2, 1908. Kandukuri had also stated in the deed that the Samajam should be handed over to the government in case the managing committee expresses its inability to run the institutions under it on sound lines. He had clearly stated that the properties of the Samajam should not be sold under any circumstances.
In Rajamahendravaram, the Hithakarini Samajam Trust, educational institutions and the State home were located in 26.3 acres. The Samajam has 20.6 acres of agricultural land in Godavari districts and the value of its assets is estimated at Rs 750 crore. Muni Kumari said after the YSRC came to power in the State, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken the initiative and merged SKVT Degree College and SKR Women’s College with the Education Department in 2022.
Now, these institutions are under the control of the Regional Joint Director of Education. However, MBA College, DEd College, Junior College, English Medium High School and Telugu Medium High School are still under the control of the Endowments Department, which is not able to run it on sound lines.
The assets of the Samajam in the heart of the city are facing an encroachment threat. As there is only one women’s university (Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam) in Tirupati, which serves the higher educational needs of women of Rayalaseema, it will be better to set up another university in the name of Kandukuri Rajyalakshmi in Rajamahendravaram for the benefit of girl students of Coastal Andhra, Muni Kumari opined, urging the government to constitute a committee headed by senior IAS officers to study the proposal.
Muni Kumari urged the government to take over the town hall established by Kandukuri in 1,720 square yards in the heart of the city and set up a library with all modern facilities for the benefit of students as it is not functional now.