Bhubaneswar, Sept. 9: A group of educationists have urged the Centre for setting u p of a campus of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Puri.

The group also handed over a memorandum to the President during his recent visit to the city.

They reasoned that the Centre has established new campuses of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Malappuram (Kerala) and Murshidabad (Bengal) with a proposed budget of Rs 400 crore each.

It is also considering on proposals to set up multiple minority universities.

“However, one of the four main dhams of Hinduism in the east — Puri — should not be neglected and its potential should be maximised through establishment of a premiere university campus, such as that of BHU,” said educationist Chitta Baral, who is heading the campaign.

“The families that serve the Jagannath temple, as well as the surrounding communities are poor and academically backward with very low gross enrolment ratio. This area also has issues such as coastal erosion that needs urgent help of scientists and researchers,” he said.

“In fact, Puri has many scholars and persons with deep knowledge of various subjects, including ancient shastras. They also have nearby villages and communities teeming with traditions, energy and talent of various kinds. The campus will help children of the priests, sevayats and other communities, who are not able to leave their hometown for family and religious needs. A campus like BHU will help them gain the required global exposure. In fact a lot of specialised research can be conducted on subjects such as history, ancient architecture and others,” said Mrutyunjay Biswas, a teacher.

The team requested the Centre that a BHU campus in Puri should focus on modern subjects such as business administration and law as well as culture, fine arts, performance arts and spiritualism.