Having extracted two Central universities for his state instead of one, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is set to gift Kashmir region’s Central varsity to his own constituency and the pocket borough of the Abdullah family — Ganderbal. Highly placed sources have confirmed that Kashmir’s Central university will, in all likelihood, be set up at Behama in Ganderbal, just about 10 km from the Dal Lake and 35 km from the Srinagar airport. The site has been found “most favourable” by the state government.

Said to be spread across 600 acres, the identified piece of land could be approached driving along the famous Nishad Gardens. So even as the varsity will not be inside Srinagar, owing to constraints of land availability, it will be virtually in the Valley. The state government is likely to make an announcement to this effect when a site is identified for the promised Central varsity at Jammu. A decision on a site for Jammu’s Central varsity — either in Samba or Bhaderwah — is to be taken soon.

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, however, said it had yet to get such information from the state government.

While the original contenders for the Central varsity in the state were Budgam, Sopore (Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s hometown) and Pulwama districts, it is Ganderbal which has emerged as the winner as over 600 acres of government-owned land is easily available here. That apart, militancy fears have worked against Sopore, besides the distance to the airport.

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