Students from Odisha's Kalahandi district studying in different premier institutes in Delhi and other parts of the country have urged President Droupadi Murmu to stop shifting the proposed regional campus of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) from Kalahandi to Mayurbhanj.

Kalahandi, which is part of western Odisha, constitutes a significant portion of the underdeveloped KBK belt.

President Murmu reached here on Tuesday evening on a three-day visit to Odisha and is scheduled to attend several programmes, including meeting tribal leaders. The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University is located at Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh.

A PhD scholar of History from Delhi University Lokesh Durga told The Telegraph, “All the high-profile leaders including President and Union tribal affairs minister Bisweshwar Tudu belong to Mayurbhanj. Now officials in New Delhi are working round the clock to shift the regional campus of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University from Kalahandi to Mayurbhanj. It should be stopped. As the President is coming to Odisha, she would certainly look into the issue. We have already raised the issue with the President’s office, the ministry of education and the ministry of tribal affairs.”

He said: “The ministry of education on April 27, 2012, proposed the establishment of the said university campus in Kalahandi of Odisha. In response to this, the prerequisites were fulfilled by the local government by allocating 300 acres of suitable land at Rampur block, which has good road, rail and air connectivity. Kalahandi, an aspirational district in Odisha is the heartland of the tribal and scheduled caste population in western Odisha (with 48% ST & SC population) and is also geographically surrounded by all tribal dominated districts of Odisha.”

Another student, pursuing MA in Philosophy from Delhi University Raghupati Nayak, said: “The campus should not be shifted. The students of Kalahandi and western Odisha would be deprived of getting higher education at their doorsteps.”

The students have also submitted memorandums to the nine MPs of western Odisha and south Odisha and also to the President’s office stating that shifting the campus would hurt the sentiments of the students of Kalahandi and western Odisha.