Aligarh, Nov 14 (IANS) The centre of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Bihar would come up in 250 acres, instead of 100 acres now, as the Bihar government has allotted an additional 150 acres of land free to the varsity.
“We have received an official communique from the Bihar government over the free of cost allotment of the additional land,” AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar told reporters in this Utar Pradesh town, some 300 km from state capital Lucknow.

“In the letter, the Bihar government has also emphasised on early opening of the varsity’s centre,” he added.

According to officials, earlier the Bihar government had approved 100 acres land to AMU for setting up the centre in Muslim-dominated Kishanganj district.

However, referring to the layout of the upcoming campus, the varsity officials had asked the government to provide an additional 150-200 acres of land as only 100 acres would not be adequate for the new campus.

“A team of the varsity will be visiting the Kishanganj site very soon and submit an action plan to accelerate the process and to bring it on fast track,” said Abrar.

According to AMU vice-chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis, the idea behind setting up the special centre in Bihar is to provide easy access to modern education to educationally deprived.

Besides Bihar, AMU plans to set up branches in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala (Malappuram) and West Bengal (Murshidabad).

The university has already received Rs.25 crore each for setting up its branches in West Bengal and Kerala, university officials added.