Munganitwar pushes for modernisation of Mul agriculture college, meeting set for October 5

Former minister and MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar has expressed his resolve to transform the agriculture college in Mul. He visited the college and closely inspected its laboratory, library, polyhouse and the entire campus. During the visit, he laid out a plan to develop the college into a state-of-the-art "Krishi Gyansankul" (agriculture knowledge complex).

MLA Mungantiwar suggested setting up a two-way communication system so that students could combine education, research and modern technology to connect directly with agricultural universities around the world. He also said a meeting would be held on October 5 with the state's agriculture minister, Dattatray Bharne, regarding the entire development plan.

The inspection was attended by Dr S. S. Chavan, deputy registrar of PDKV Akola; Dr Vilas Atkare, principal and associate professor of the agriculture college; Pravin Mohurle, BJP's Mul city president; Bandu Gaurkar, district president of Kisan Aghadi; Dr Shrikant Amarshettiwar, associate research director; Santosh Bhavde; Dr Vishakha Dongre, assistant professor; Shyam Patinge, assistant professor; and architect Chinmay Patil.

MLA Mungantiwar suggested reviewing whether necessary changes could be made to the existing map while preparing a new design for the college's construction. He also underlined the need to build a presentation hall and an agriculture-related e-library keeping future requirements in mind.

Proposing that everything on the college campus should become a source of knowledge for students, he suggested installing signboards providing agricultural information, as well as QR codes near trees that would give complete information about each tree. This would allow students to access all farming-related information in one place.

While asking officials to inspect the space available for boys' and girls' hostels and plan it properly, he also asked for a count of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students residing in the hostels. He asked about vacant posts at the college and suggested that the building be repainted as needed and the entire campus kept clean, attractive and inspiring for students. He also interacted with students during the visit and heard about their difficulties and expectations.

The agriculture minister will be invited to tour Chandrapur district for the October 5 meeting, during which a visit to the farmer training centre at Ajaypur will also be arranged. MLA Mungantiwar suggested that PDKV and the agriculture college jointly prepare a detailed presentation for the visit.

He said efforts would be made to include paddy under the "One District, One Product" scheme to give wider recognition to Chandrapur district's agricultural strength. He also stressed the need for the college to focus on seed storage, that is, conservation of traditional and important seeds, gene collection and research, tissue culture and nursery development.

MLA Mungantiwar put forward a broad vision for students to get all important farming-related information in one place, including rainwater harvesting, various cattle breeds, modern farming technology, crop diversity, research and local agricultural traditions.