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His regular diatribe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi notwithstanding, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has continued to write letters to the Centre on regular intervals either seeking financial aid or other support.
In his latest letter to Modi, Yadav has sought central share of funds for setting up of an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Lucknow.
In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and especially after Modi became the PM following a stupendous showing of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the hustings, Yadav has used all possible platforms viz. public meetings, press conferences, party forums etc to target Modi over his policies, cleanliness drive, development agenda etc.
Last week, Yadav had written to union HRD minister Smriti Irani seeking a regional chapter of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in UP to help in the evaluation of educational institutes for improving their quality standards.
In recent past, Yadav had written letters to the Centre over issues of coal, energy etc.
On October 15, Yadav had laid the foundation of IIIT, Lucknow to be built in partnership with Centre and UP Electronics Corporation. The investment outlay was stipulated to be shared by the Centre, UP and the Corporation in the ratio of 50:35:15 respectively.
The IIIT would conduct B Tech and M Tech courses after merit based admissions through All India Entrance Examination. The state would provide scholarships to the students as per policy.
In his latest letter, Yadav has also requested the PM to appoint the chairman of the Board of Governors for IIIT, so that the project could gain momentum. He said as per central guidelines, the Institute was being set up under public private partnership (PPP) to provide quality technical education in UP.
Yadav mentioned the Institute would cost nearly Rs 128 crore, of which 50 percent was to be borne by the Centre. The state government had already released Rs 20.18 crore of its share and a request for the release of central share had been made in the past as well.
EOM
