All hopes of bringing out of oblivion a crucial aspect of Sir Ronald Ross’s legacy may have to be abandoned, thanks to ownership tussles over a 2.5-acre land parcel.
The Ronald Ross Institute of Parasitology in Begumpet could have earned Hyderabad the distinction of housing a lab where Nobel-worthy science was undertaken. On August 20, 1897, Sir Ronald Ross discovered the malarial parasite in the female anopheles mosquito at a modest lab, attached to a hospital.
Osmania University is custodian of the building which housed Sir Ross’ lab, but the Indian government owns the land through Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA). The Ministry stated a few months ago that the land, attached to the Begumpet airport, cannot be alienated in favour of the university, informs institute director B. Reddya Naik. “Our plan was to set up a modern research laboratory on the premises. The significance associated with this place is enough to fetch it funds from numerous agencies. But without ownership of land, no infrastructure can be developed,” he says.
Prof. Naik talks about the institute lacking water supply and an approach road, apart from facing threat of encroachment and lack of security as impediments to setting up a lab. The rationale is that the university cannot put into place the essentials sans ownership. OU’s Zoology Department, which Prof. Naik has been associated with and which has been overseeing the institute’s management, is keen to have a laboratory to put the institute on world map.
However, without research to boast of, the institute is reduced to hosting seminars twice a year. Ownership issues notwithstanding, the activity level at the institute appears to have diminished over the years, suggests a timeline of events.
MCA’s latest move seems to have further dented enthusiasm within the Zoology Department, admits Prof. Naik. Understandably so as the university has plenty of land within its campus to develop laboratories and is unlikely to consider spending more than the ₹80,000 per annum it now spends on maintenance, in leasing or acquiring its land.
OU Vice-Chancellor, however, suggests it may not be over yet for the iconic institute. “We have not looked at other ways like suggesting a nominal lease to the Ministry. I have asked some proposals to be made,” says Vice-Chancellor Ramachandram, indicating efforts to acknowledge the institute’s significance will be renewed.