Punjab Engineering College seeks ₹750 crore from UT administration for infra revamp

With grand makeover plans for its centenary year, the Punjab Engineering College (a deemed- to-be university) has sought ₹750 crore from the UT administration.

According to the proposal, the funds will be one-time grant to revamp its infrastructure, said Punjab Engineering College (PEC) director Dheeraj Sanghi on Wednesday.

The institute, which has been seeking funds for its infrastructure improvement ,will complete its 100th year in 2021.

According to the proposed plan, the institute will request the UT technical education department to further request the Centre for releasing the one time special grant.

The proposal was ratified during a meet of the board of governors held on October 12.

The total grant sought by the institute is ₹750 crore for a period of five years. “We expect a grant of ₹150 crore every year for a period of five years, thus the total amount will be ₹750 crore,” said director Sanghi.

He said, “We will request the UT administration to further request the Centre to seek extra one-time grant for PEC in addition to the regular UT budget for education.”

Presently, the UT budget for education is around ₹100 crore, while PEC gets ₹52 crore per annum.

The funds have been sought to renovate the infrastructure and create new buildings.

“The grant will be utilised for the construction of an auditorium, guest houses, faculty houses, laboratory and common rooms,” said the director.

“In the last 15-20 years there was no new construction was done in the institute except the Kalpana Chawala Extention and the New Academic Block.”

Currently, around 3,300 students study in PEC and the number of seats are expected to rise from the next academic year when the reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students will be implemented. The current infrastructure of PEC can accommodate around 1,500-2,000 students