AURANGABAD: While educational projects proposed at Aurangabad, including the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) and National Law University (NLU), have languished those for Nagpur have got speedy clearance.

Stakeholders, observing that Marathwada was receiving step-motherly treatment from the government, have appealed to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to end the 'biased treatment' meted out to the region.

In July, Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari met to ensure that AIIMS, IIM, IIIT, National Law University and Government Engineering College are set up quickly in Nagpur. Such special efforts hurt Marathwada badly as it has been awaiting clearances for SPA and NLU for months now, Tukaram Saraf of Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, said.

Ajay Thakur, immediate past president of the Aurangabad centre of Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), a national body, said educational projects meant for Nagpur are become functional from the current academic year while those announced for Marathwada are still on paper.

"We have nothing against Nagpur gaining something, but Marathwada should not be neglected this much badly. While on one hand, the SPA is still at announcement stage, on the other marathon meetings are held to clear decks for Nagpur projects, he said.

The SPA for Aurangabad was announced in 2015-16. The architecture community and the academia were upbeat as the proposed institution was the fourth in the country after Delhi, Bhopal and Vijaywada.

While the district administration has been maintaining that it did not receive any instructions from the government regarding how to go about the SPA project, funds worth Rs 10 crore allocated for the project during last year's budget have remained unused, so far.

Fadnavis had pledged his support to NLU when he attended 35th foundation day event of Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court on August 28. He also announced that 30% seats in NLUs would be reserved for state candidates.

While a National Law University at Nagpur and Mumbai appear to be functional, the Aurangabad institution is mired in technical issues, including pending litigations.

A fresh assurance from Fadnavis about expediting the process had rekindled hopes, but there has been no official movement in the past month.

Former senate member of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU) Gajanan Sanap said the state cabinet meet should take up these issues.

"The education sector should get equal attention during Tuesday's meet. People from Marathwada have developed a perception that the government is biased," he said.

BJP sources said competition between party leaders from Nagpur was the reason behind the city getting speedy clearances for projects, including educational ventures. Meanwhile, an appeal to address issues faced by BEd and MEd colleges has been made to the state government. The state had announced its entrance test for admission to teacher training courses at the last minute. As a fallout, a large number of seats were vacant, educationist Rauf Sattar Pathan, said.