CM, Prabhu to open Bhagat Namdev college in Gurdaspur dist on July 17

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, July 12

CM Parkash Singh Badal and the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will jointly inaugurate Bhagat Namdev Degree College on July 17.

Those expected to be present include former Union Minister Sharad Pawar.

The CM had promised his Marathi guests during the 88th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held at Ghuman in April, 2015 that he will construct a college in the memory of the legendary 13th century Marathi Saint and writer who spent the last 20 years of his life here.

DC Dr Abhinav Trikha was asked by the state government to pinpoint a proper location and a 10- acre piece of land near Kishankot village on the outskirts of Ghuman town was identified for this purpose. The multi- storied structure has now come up at a cost of Rs 12 crore and this will be the third government college constructed in the region since Gurdaspur was declared a district 164 years ago on May 1, 1852. The other two degree colleges are in Kala Afghana village, near Batala and Gurdaspur.

DC Pardeep Sabharwal has been holding meetings on a day- to- day basis at the venue. The state government has accorded the event the status of a state -level function.

The town is equidistant-40 km-from Gurdaspur and Batala, the two nearest cities. Sri Hargobindpur, a small hamlet, which is 6 km away may not find favour with the faculty for an assortment of reasons. T.K Goyal, DPI (Colleges) said that deputing the staff was a problem which would be taken care of by the GNDU. “The university will be running the college. The state government has nothing to do with it,” he said.

Keeping in view the terror threat in this border district, the DC has asked Batala SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon to draw up an elaborate security plan to ensure the function goes on peacefully.