The broken foundation stone of Magadh Agriculture College in Bodhgaya. Picture by Suman

Gaya, June 19: The seeds of Magadh Agriculture College (MAC) were sown in Bodhgaya in 1997. Fourteen years on, not a single brick has been laid. Even its foundation stone has collapsed.

The agriculture department land measuring around 25 acres selected for setting up the proposed college has now been transferred to the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC). It plans to set up of a meditation park there.

The land earlier earmarked for the college is now under the green belt zone. The master plan prepared by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) has prohibited any construction in this zone to meet the Unseco guidelines following the enlistment of Mahabodhi Mahavihara as a world heritage site.

After the move, high schools, block office and other establishments in the zone have been shifted to plots along the Falgu river. But no provision has yet been made for the agriculture college.

The foundation stone for the college was laid by then Union agriculture minister Chaturanan Mishra on October 3, 1997. Then Governor A.R. Kidwai, former state agriculture minister Raghunath Jha and then Union minister of state for agriculture Akhilesh Prasad Singh were present during the foundation stone laying ceremony.

The move to open an agriculture college was then seen by farmers of Magadh division as a step to provide them training and tips for alternative crops in the absence of adequate rainfall and proper irrigation facilities. The entire division was drought-hit for the past two years. Experts have said there was a need for research on an alternative crop system in place of the traditional ones in view of the climatic conditions.

The Magadh Agriculture University Struggling Committee convener, Vijay Kumar Mithu, told The Telegraph: “Gaya needs an agriculture university. On behalf of the struggling committee, I submitted a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister, Bihar governor, chief minister, Union human resource development minister and the agriculture minister in this regard but to no avail.”

Mithu pointed out that the draft of Hudco master plan was released in 2005, after which a ban on further construction was enforced. “But since the foundation stone of the college was laid in 1997, there was at least eight years to complete the college ,” he said.