Aizawl, Nov 30 (UNI) Two district-level organisations from Mamit and Champhai have submitted separate representations to the state government requesting that the proposed Mizoram State University establish its Western and Eastern campuses in their respective districts.
In their letter to the Higher and Technical Education Minister, the Mamit District Youth Organisation said the government's efforts to establish the state university in line with the National Education Policy 2020 were welcome, but urged that the Western Campus be located in Mamit.
The group noted that the Mizoram State University Act, 2025 had already been published in the Gazette, but that the chief minister had since announced that the Act would be amended.
Calling Mamit the only Aspirational District in Mizoram, the organisation argued that locating a university campus there would help the district catch up with the rest of the state.
With two government colleges -- Government Mamit College and Government Zawlnuam College -- and proximity to both the Lengpui Airport and the Bairabi railhead, the group said Mamit was strategically placed to host a campus.
It requested that at least one School of the university be established under a Pro-Vice Chancellor at a proposed Western Campus in Mamit.
In a separate representation to the chief minister, the Champhai District NGOs Coordination Committee pressed for the Eastern Campus to be established in Champhai.
Citing the NEP 2020's roadmap for replacing affiliating universities with state universities, the committee welcomed the state government's steps toward setting up the Mizoram State University but said Champhai was "among the most deserving" districts outside Aizawl to host a major higher-education institution.
The committee highlighted Champhai's status as the state's third-largest and rapidly expanding town, its strategic location on the Indo-Myanmar border and its importance under India's Act East Policy.
It said Government Champhai College, established in 1971 and widely regarded as the most well-established institution in eastern Mizoram, offered the best infrastructure for an Eastern Campus.
The NGOs proposed that a Pro Vice-Chancellor be appointed to head the campus and that at least one School -- preferably the School of Social Sciences or the School of Education -- be set up there.
They also recommended creating a Centre for International Business to support border-trade-related education in line with the Act East Policy.
The committee argued that unlike Lunglei, which already has a High Power Committee office and a Municipal Council, Champhai has no state-level institution of significance despite a comparable population size.
It said the establishment of the Eastern Campus would help ensure that development "flows eastward".
The appeals follow Chief Minister Lalduhoma's recent announcement that the university would be set up in Lunglei, a shift from the Mizoram Assembly's earlier resolution that it would be located in Aizawl.
The change in location -- coming after calls from the four ZPM MLAs from Lunglei who had urged that the university be established in their district -- has generated considerable discussion across the state.
The two petitions add fresh layers to the widening debate around the government's decision to override the Assembly resolution and shift the university's headquarters to Lunglei.
With stakeholders from multiple districts now laying claim to different components of the proposed institution, the location of the Mizoram State University is emerging as one of the most politically sensitive issues facing the ZPM government.