Guwahati, Feb 22, 2025, IANS

Guwahati, Feb 22 (IANS) Assam Police on Saturday arrested Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) on the allegation of forging a caste certificate, officials said. Hoque was picked up by the police in the wee hours of Saturday from his residence in Guwahati by a team of Sribhumi district police and Special Task Force of Assam Police. A case was registered against Hoque in the Sribhumi district on charges of forging a caste certificate. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered for registering the case against Hoque after a controversy regarding the private varsity erupted when Guwahati faced heavy waterlogging during the monsoon in the previous year. Sarma earlier alleged that the city experienced flash floods due to large-scale deforestation by a private university and other educational institutions in the Jorabat hills on the outskirts of Guwahati. He claimed that the private varsity — University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) owned by the Bengali-origin Muslim Mahbubul Hoque from Assam’s Sribhumi district has been waging “flood-jihad” in Guwahati. According to Sarma, the university which was set up in 2008 did large-scale deforestation over the last few years in the Jorabat hills and water from the hills descend into Guwahati causing severe waterlogging in the city. He also blamed the construction of a recent medical college in the varsity campus and said that the deforestation has increased many folds in the hills due to the new construction. Sarma even suggested that students from Assam should stop studying at the university and the building works will automatically stop there. He also said that teachers from Guwahati should also stop going to the USTM. “The varsity authority did not take help from an architect while developing new buildings. If they had done so, trees in the hills could have been saved. They (USTM) have cut the hills in a very ruthless way by using bulldozers,” he added. The USTM authority, however, denied the allegations by the Assam CM and the university spokesperson said, “USTM campus area is a small part of the Baridua area till Jorabat in Ri-Bhoi district which has largely developed on both sides of the G.S. Road. “USTM campus contributes maybe a miniscule portion of the total water that flows down the Kiling Road through the various drains to the G.S. Road (Guwahati-Shillong Road) on both sides of the road.” “The campus infrastructure expansions have all requisite permissions from the Government of Meghalaya and the building of the medical college is being guided by Delhi and Mumbai-based consultants and has also been reviewed by IIT Experts,” the spokesperson added. USTM has nearly 6,000 students and the university received ‘A’ grade in the NAAC accreditation in 2021.