JU’s dubious development plans
We are outraged at the allegations of corruption that were raised against the Jahangirnagar University authorities in the ongoing development works of the university. Reportedly, ECNEC approved Tk 1,445 crore and 36 lakh development fund for the university last year. And this year, the university authorities undertook some projects for the university's "development" with the fund and made a new masterplan to implement the projects. For this they have already cut down over a thousand trees in order to build six student dormitories following the new masterplan, although the teachers, students and the university community had no knowledge of it. These new dormitories are being constructed under the first phase of the university's development work. However, there have been allegations of corruption in implementing the projects. On August 23, a national daily reported that the JU VC held a meeting with the university's BCL members and allegedly distributed Tk two crore among BCL leaders, although the university administration denied the allegations.
Needless to say, the university authorities have the right to undertake development projects which would serve the students, teachers as well as the university community. But what was wrong on part of the administration was that they did all the work, including making the master plan, secretly, without the knowledge of all the stakeholders. Moreover, the need to build new dormitories cannot be underestimated, as more students can enroll there with new residential facilities. We have to remember the fact that JU is a residential university and the number of students largely depend on the number of seats available at the dorms. But it is now clear that the places for the new dorms were not decided judiciously.
As the students and teachers of JU have been protesting for quite some time now against the "corruption of the authorities", and "unplanned" development works which would endanger the biodiversity of the campus, we think the JU authorities should consider the demands of the protesting students and take effective steps to ensure accountability. Most importantly, it is time to hold a proper probe into the allegations of corruption and irregularities. Since the allegations are against the university administration, the probe should be held by a higher authority, for example, by the UGC or the judiciary.
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