Administrative operations and physical classes will start within three months on the Santiniketan campus of Biswa Bangla University, a brainchild of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The varsity authorities headed by vice-chancellor Swapan Kumar Datta, along with state government officials led by Hidco chairman and managing director Debashis Sen, on Monday held a meeting on the under-construction campus to speed up the infrastructure work. The officials said infrastructure, including furniture, required for the varsity would be in place at the earliest.

The state government has already allocated Rs 30 crore to set up the infrastructure. The Biswa Bangla University is being built close to the Visva-Bharati campus. “Six rooms are ready for use and the main administrative block will be equipped with proper infrastructure very soon. We are hopeful of starting activities on the campus in the next three months,” said Datta. Sources said the state government wanted to make the campus functional before the Assembly polls and showcase it as an achievement of the ruling party.

The varsity has already started online classes for Bengali, English and history. The varsity officials said they would soon launch the departments of music and fine arts as soon as possible.

“The varsity will carry forward the ideas of Rabindranath Tagore and be a replica of Visva-Bharati. The state government wants to make the varsity an example at a time allegations of saffronisation have gripped Visva-Bharati,” said a government official. State government sources said once the university became fully functional, 14 colleges of Birbhum district would be affiliated to it. These 14 colleges are now affiliated to the Burdwan University.

The university is coming up at Shibpur, around 4km from Santiniketan. The university’s appointed day is December 10, 2020.