By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: Zafar Sareshwala, a Gujarati businessman known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge as the Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University here on Wednesday.
Accompanied by his close family members, Sareshwala arrived in a BMW convoy and inaugurated the newly established Center for Deccan Studies building, where, almost every staff member of MANUU was waiting to welcome the new head. Vice Chancellor Mohammed Miyan along with other administrative staff members gave Sareshwala a quick tour of the University campus.
Sareshwala visited Center for Urdu Language Literature and Culture, Center for Distance Education and Department of Mass Communication. In his brief visit, Sareshwala interacted with respective HODs, who were present to welcome him at different blocks. The new Chancellor also interacted with students at polytechnic college in the campus.
Banners welcoming Sareshwala were erected at many places and staff was seen working hard to keep the campus clean. Interestingly, going against its norm MANUU administration didn’t inform the media about Sareshwala’s debut arrival, thus restricting the media coverage.
At around 4 pm, Sareshwala had a long interactive meeting with heads of respective departments where he directed them to come up with proposals and assured them that he will make sure funds are properly allotted for the projects.
A student of Bachelor of Arts who didn’t wanted to be named said there is resentment in the campus against the appointment of Sareshwala’s appointment “as the student community now perceives that MANUU is becoming a dumping ground for politically unemployed.”
Another student pursuing MA (Political Science) disagreed with that notion and said, “A person who is close to the government, will be good for the future of MANUU. I hope he (Sareshwala) will get all the pending work done.”
An HoD, who is working in MANUU since a decade and has held different posts in Center for Distance Education and Science department, on the condition of anonymity shared his assessment that a Chancellor in MANUU has always been a conventional ceremonial post whose function is restricted to attend annual convocation.
But he also observed, “As Zafar Sareshwala is coming to MANUU with a political endeavor to build a positive image in the community, he should first concentrate on getting Urdu text books printed so the students in the campus doesn’t need to rely on other languages text books.” He also added, “Sareshwala using his influence at Center should get crores of funds lying with the government to be utilized for the sake of students.”
TCN efforts to interact with Sareshwala went in vain as he was too busy with his new found assignment