Lucknow: Almost 10 year ago, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan had promised a college for the people of this village in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki and even laid its foundation stone. The superstar and his family could however, not do anything more than that. The people of Daulatpaur in Barabanki district took it upon themselves and have now successfully established a degree college here.
Amitabh Bachchan accompanied by Jaya, Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan bought a 10 bigha land and laid the foundation stone for a degree college. The family even named it ‘Aishwarya Bachchan Kanya Mahavidyalay’.
After waiting for almost a decade for the Bachchans to pursue the project, the villagers decided to realise the dream on their own on a separate piece of land barely 500 metres away.
A 40-year-old teacher from the village, Satyawan Shukla led the initiative with villagers and collected nearly Rs 60 lakh for the college.
A 10,000 square metre land was donated by Shukla’s father and brother for the college and now, Daulatpur Degree College is a reality. The college will be offering BA and BSc course and is affiliated to RML Avadh University, Faizabad.
The Daulatpur College that now stands next to the plot bought by the Bachchans.
The co-education college comprising 12 classrooms also houses a library. Villagers who donated the money are the members of the managing committee of the Daulatpur Degree College.
Speaking to News18, Ramesh Chandra, a resident of Daulatpur said, “When Amitabh Bachchan announced the degree college in their village, we were convinced that the fate of the village will change. But even after 10 years nothing has been done. So everyone decided to crowdfund the college as youngsters had to go for higher education and the nearest college here is 30 kilometres away.”
In 2008, the Bachchan family, along with former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chandrababu Naidu, Farooq Abdullah and Om Prakash Chautala laid the foundation stone on the occasion of SP leader Amar Singh’s birthday.
