In next to no time, a major landmark of the city is set to disappear with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government firming up plans to turn the iconic Hyderabad Race Club into an education hub.
TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, promised a slew of sops to boost education, and one idea, which surprised educationists, was turning the 100-year-old iconic race course into an education hub.
The education department has been hand over the task of preparing a blueprint for establishing 150 educational institutions in and around the sprawling Malakpet race course. It is learnt that these institutes will offer post-graduate courses in various subjects, specialize in research and development.
As a matter of fact, a similar proposal to create an educational hub by the then Congress chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy was put on the back burner in 2008 after vehement opposition from the race course authorities, backed by political parties.
Now the higher education department has singled out the old blueprint and is reworking it with renewed enthusiasm and giving it proper shape, at the behest of the state government.
The government’s plan is to put up about 150 higher education institutes on 500 acres of land, including the race course and also the Chanchalguda jail.
When asked about the plan, G Jagadish Reddy, minister for higher education said that the manifesto will be put into operation at any cost. “We will implement the manifesto at any cost. The hub will come up and the modalities will be discussed soon,” the minister said.
According to the plan, the whole concept is at the formative stage and the government has plans to rope in several stakeholders and finalize the mega project.
Educationists are privately criticizing the move alleging Telangana already has plenty of quality educational institutions, including National Institute of Technology in Warangal, IIT-Hyderabad and Indian School of Business among others.
“Educational hub is a good concept, but establishing it by destroying an iconic landmark is definitely a bad idea. There is a plenty of open land where the government can set up such institutions, why here?” questioned a former vice-chancellor, who did not wish to be named.
The Chanchalguda jail and the race course are part of a sprawling 2,000 acres of land, which the new government has been eyeing.
In fact, the chief minister clearly said that his government would not allow such prime land to be wasted on racing and wanted the jail to be shifted out of the city, but has not specified where.