New Town: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced at the Bengal Global Business Summit on Wednesday that the government would allot five acres to Jadavpur and Calcutta universities each.
The announcement was made moments after JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das signed MoUs with the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; University of Exeter, England; Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary; and a university in Poland.
CU vice-chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, who had earlier petitioned the government for a plot to set up an integrated science and technology campus, was not present on the occasion.
"I am announcing that the state government will allot five acres to both Jadavpur University and Calcutta University," the chief minister said.
A higher education department official said the plots would soon be identified.
Das told Metro that he had appealed to the chief minister last year for a plot where the university would set up academic buildings for conducting high-end research.
"If we are selected as an institute of eminence and get additional funds, we will need land for setting up more facilities," Das said.
The UGC grants an institute of excellence Rs 1,000 crore over five years.
Das was held hostage in his office from 4pm on Monday till 1.30am on Wednesday by students, who were demanding that the authorities reject the government order declaring students' unions apolitical and announce dates of campus elections.
When he mounted the stage at the summit venue in New Town at 11.30am, the chief minister asked him how he was doing. The VC had been freed from captivity just 10 hours before.
"I told her I was as good as one could be after remaining under siege for 31 hours. She laughed hearing this," Das recounted.
Das was scheduled to fly to Delhi in the evening to attend a meeting with representatives of the human resource development ministry. "I had to cancel the trip as I was exhausted. I could hardly sleep last night. I returned home from the summit at 4pm, took a sedative and fell asleep," Das told this newspaper late on Wednesday.
At the summit, Presidency VC Anuradha Lohia signed an MoU with the University of Edinburgh.
