University of Hyderabad Land is NOT for SALE Campaign. Petition to be submitted to the Prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. We the students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and other concerned students across India are outraged by the unilateral decision making of the UoH administration in various crucial issues involving the land of the university. University was allotted 2324 acres of land in 1974 when it was established. In the last five years alone 600 acres were alienated from the university, and there are proposals to alienate more land even today. All these land leasing/selling dealings (MoUs) were finalised by the university administration without consulting the stake holders (students, faculty members, non-teaching staff) in spite of their opposition through protests, hunger strikes etc… The University Administration under the Vice-Chancellorship of Dr. Seyed E. Hasnain has attempted to alienate 200 acres of UoH land to ‘Care’ (a private corporate medical institution), this attempt was foiled by mass protests by students, faculty and non-teaching staff. Once again the University attempted to alienate 200 acres of UoH land under the pretext of Knowledge and Innovation Park to private corporations (according to them a project to promote research through Public-Private Partnership). This new MoU was also stalled by joint protests by the stake-holders of UoH. The UoH Administration has successfully alienated 600 acres to various organisations (TERI, CDFD, TIFR). Further moves are being made to give away land to National Institute of Animal Biotechnology and National Institute of Design, which amounts to 180 acres. We strongly oppose such land alienations, as the vast area of land was allotted to the UoH with a vision to expand the university over time to cater to the academic needs of the emerging times and future generations of our country. Land is a resource essential for any educational institution and such a huge area of land required for a world class institution cannot be given away and definitely cannot be acquired in the future in Hyderabad. Already the land in and around UoH have sky rocketing prices and in the future the price of land would only rise. Any University once established remains as a University performing the role of educating generations of students for all time to come. Most renowned Universities in the nation and abroad have been established hundreds of years ago. The current UoH Administration lacks precisely this foresight. Public funded universities have larger social responsibilities and are obligated to take into confidence all those who are concerned. Whereas in the case of University of Hyderabad none of the stake holders were taken into confidence before signing these MoUs in spite of their protests. Democratising all levels of decision making is very essential for a progressive and modern society and its institutions, in case of the land dealings in the UoH this principle is violated and all the decisions were made unilaterally. Hence we demand that all signed MoUs involving the UoH Land be reviewed in retrospect. No further MoUs in this regard should be signed without the consent of all the stake holders of the UoH i.e the students, teaching and non-teaching staff. We seek your immediate intervention in this regard. Thanking you. Sincerely, University of Hyderabad Land is NOT for SALE Campaign.

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