Nearly 70 kilometers from Lucknow, in the Fatehpur tehsil of Barabanki district, lies Daulatpur, a village of approximately 3,000 residents that once found itself at the center of nationwide attention. On 27 January 2008, four helicopters hovered over the village while hundreds of police personnel secured the area for an extraordinary gathering. Amitabh Bachchan arrived with his family, accompanied by Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and newly married daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai. The gathering was attended by influential political figures, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Amar Singh, Chandrababu Naidu, Om Prakash Chautala, and Farooq Abdullah. Together, they participated in the foundation ceremony of the Aishwarya Rai Girls' Degree College, pledging on 10 bighas of land that a functional institution for women would open its doors within a single year.
Vacant Land and the Emergence of a Faith Healing Shrine
Eighteen years after that grand announcement, the academic complex exists only on forgotten paper. The designated 10-bigha plot, known locally among residents as the Bachchan property, sits completely barren. The elevated brick platform built for the foundation ceremony has disappeared, and the commemorative stone displaying the institution's name is nowhere to be found. Instead, beneath a peepal tree at one end of the field, a shrine dedicated to Brahmachari Baba has taken root. The location has gradually transitioned into a center for religious oblations, havan ceremonies, and spiritual healing practices, drawing significant crowds every Saturday.
When questioned about official clearance for the shrine, the resident head priest, Buddhiman Baba, confirmed that no administrative permission was sought. He stated that the local populace had worshipped the sacred peepal tree long before the college project was conceived, and after construction plans stalled indefinitely, residents helped construct the religious platform.
Struggles of Local Students and Daily Commutes
Recalling the foundation day, 57-year-old resident Rakesh Kumar Mishra described a gathering so immense that open ground was unavailable for nearly a kilometer around the venue. A family priest brought by the Bachchans performed the religious consecration of the site. However, the subsequent years brought only disillusionment. Farmers who had transferred their agricultural parcels for the institution eventually initiated litigation when physical construction failed to materialize, entangling the entire venture in court proceedings. Today, only deep foundation trenches remain, without a single brick ever laid above ground.
The lack of a local higher education facility places a severe burden on young women in the region. Lakshmi Devi, a village resident whose family includes two undergraduate students, explained the logistical hardships caused by the missing college. After completing Class 12 schooling in Fatehpur, local girls have no nearby institution for university education. Consequently, over 500 young women from Daulatpur, Muhammadpur, and Fatehpur must pedal bicycles for roughly 20 kilometers every day to attend classes at the Barabanki district headquarters. A local degree college would have eliminated this daily hardship entirely.
Land Registry Records and Boundary Litigations
The land associated with the project had previously triggered intense administrative and legal scrutiny. Prior to the 2008 event, allegations surfaced regarding the transfer of state-owned parcels into Amitabh Bachchan's possession during the administration of Mulayam Singh Yadav. When Mayawati took office as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, she directed the Barabanki district administration to conduct a thorough inquiry. A criminal fraud complaint was lodged against the actor, though the High Court eventually granted him a clean chit in the matter.
A review of official revenue records at the Fatehpur tehsil office, conducted with lekhpal Sudhir Verma, confirms that valuable real estate remains registered under the family's name. Gata numbers 711 and 793 are directly credited to Amitabh Bachchan, while the title for Gata numbers 1083, 1086, and 1088 remains officially assigned to Aishwarya Rai Girls' College.
At the residence of former village head Rajkumari Singh, her son Amrendra Singh provided insight into the legal hurdles. His family had also contributed land for the institution. When no work commenced over multiple years, they sought judicial relief. Subsequently, Amitabh Bachchan returned portions of the land to local villagers. However, a couple of remaining parcels situated along the border separating Sitapur and Barabanki districts continue to face ownership disputes between parties on both sides.
Aishwarya Rai's Remarks at the Foundation Ceremony
Having married into the family just nine months earlier, Aishwarya Rai expressed genuine surprise when visiting Daulatpur to find an academic institution slated to bear her name. Addressing the public gathering in 2008, she shared her initial modesty regarding the honor. Aishwarya Rai remarked,
“It would have been more appropriate if the college had been named after one of them.”
She explained that she initially wondered whether the institution should honor senior family members like Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji Bachchan, or her parents-in-law. However, once her relatives framed it as a blessing, she accepted the tribute and prayed for the capacity to see the dream realized. Yet, nearly two decades later, that ambition remains unfulfilled.
Management Stagnation and Unused Contributions
Administrative authority over the proposed institution had been assigned jointly to the Nishtha Foundation and the Amitabh Bachchan Seva Sansthan, where Jaya Prada serves as chairperson. Amit Singh, secretary of the Amitabh Bachchan Seva Sansthan, recounted that early enthusiasm led to the creation of a management body called Kanya Mahavidyalaya, comprising retired civil servants, local residents, and external advisors. While the Nishtha Foundation was initially tasked with executing physical construction, prolonged inactivity prompted the transfer of responsibilities to the Seva Sansthan.
According to Amit Singh, Amitabh Bachchan provided a financial contribution of Rs 5 lakh toward the project. However, subsequent attempts to communicate with him or his financial advisor, Rajesh Rishikesh, yielded no results, bringing all administrative momentum to an abrupt halt. With total project costs projected in the tens of millions of rupees, the institution remains stalled with no commencement schedule in sight.
Renewed Hopes After Television Apology
Two years before laying the stone in Daulatpur, Jaya Bachchan inaugurated a library dedicated to poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan in Babupatti village, situated in Pratapgarh district, which is Amitabh Bachchan's ancestral home. Much like the college in Barabanki, that library has remained shuttered for nearly two decades.
During an episode of the quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati, Amitabh Bachchan addressed the prolonged delay in Pratapgarh publicly. Big B expressed an apology on air and assured the audience that the library would soon become operational.
This televised statement has reignited optimism among the residents of Daulatpur. Villagers reason that if steps can be taken to revive the ancestral project in Pratapgarh, similar attention should be extended to the long-delayed degree college in Barabanki, finally resolving the educational deficit facing local daughters.
