Visva-Bharati has geared up to set up its first satellite campus in Uttarakhand’s Ramgarh after the Uttarakhand government allotted it 300 acres.

Varsity officials said that Ramgarh, in scenic Nainital district, was among Rabindranath Tagore’s favoured destinations.

Records indicate at least one visit with his entire family in 1914. Many of his poems on natural beauty are believed to have been written in Ramgarh, 1,729m above sea level. It is also said several verses of Gitanjali, for which he was awarded the Nobel in 1913, were penned in Ramgarh.

“The central government had passed the bill in Parliament and the Centre’s junior minister of defence and tourism Ajay Bhatt recently wrote to the Uttarakhand chief minister to hand over 300 acres of land to Visva-Bharati after approval in the cabinet. We are planning to set up the campus as soon as possible. However, we need to estimate the cost too,” said a senior varsity official.

Varsity sources said that the executive council had on June 10, 2020, approved the proposal for setting up the new campus at Ramgarh in Nainital district which has associations with Tagore.

“The project was initiated by the ministry of human resource development under the keen supervision of former education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. It was earlier fixed that the Uttarakhand government will provide the land and the HRD ministry will fund the project,” said an official.

Visva-Bharati officials could not confirm whether the varsity can start its academic sessions in its satellite campus from this year.