Council chairman orders house panel probe into working of Bihar Vidyapeeth

PATNA A committee of the state’s Legislative Council will probe the functioning of Bihar Vidyapeeth, an educational institution set up by Mahatma Gandhi near the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) office in 1921, for alleged misuse of its premises

PATNA

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A committee of the state’s Legislative Council will probe the functioning of Bihar Vidyapeeth, an educational institution set up by Mahatma Gandhi near the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) office in 1921, for alleged misuse of its premises.

Awadhesh Narayan Singh, working chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, announced this in the House following debate on a question raised by Congress member Prem Chandra Mishra on Friday. Mishra alleged that Vidyapeeth, one among the three set up by Mahatma Gandhi as alternative institutions to impart studies during the pre-Independence era, had wholly diverted from its core objectives.

Set up on a sprawling 32-acre campus, it also had a museum dedicated to the first President Rajendra Prasad and library of a noted educationist and freedom fighter Maualama Mazharul Haque. “Instead of pursuing the objectives of the institution, those in-charge of the premises are using it for commercial purposes,” Mishra alleged.

Supporting Mishra’s contention, RJD member Sunil Kumar Singh said he had attended marriage celebrations at the Vidyapeeth, contrary to the contention of art and culture minister Alok Ranjan, who, citing a report from the department’s deputy director, claimed the premises were not being used for commercial purposes.

RJD member Ram Chandra Purbe said Gandhi had established three institutions, Kashi Vidyapeeth, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Bihar Vidyapeeth, as alternatives to the government’s educational institutions. Kashi Vidyapeeth is a university, while the one in Gujarat is also imparting good academic values.

JD(U) member and littérateur Ram Vachan Rai too expressed his concern over misuse of the national heritage.

The working chairman of Council, however, feared that the house committee might delay the submission of report, as has happened in the past. He said he had ordered an inquiry by a house committee during his previous stint as the chairman. “But members kept on retiring and the committee never submitted its report,” said Singh.

Mishra, however, said the committee be given a deadline to submit its report.