PTU board puts ₹200-crore construction plan on hold, cites excessive cost estimates
This meeting was to approve the minutes of 54th and 55th meetings of the varsity’s Standing Building Construction Committee, which had approved the works in July 2019.
Jalandhar The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Inder Kumar Gujral Punjab Technical University (IKG-PTU) has put on hold construction of new buildings of around ₹200 crore. Exception was taken to the varsity’s plan to build 34 classrooms at ₹ 85.6 crore. The BoG observed that ‘prima facie, the expenditure seems to be excessive’ (HT has a copy of the minutes of the meeting held on January 23).
This meeting was to approve the minutes of 54th and 55th meetings of the varsity’s Standing Building Construction Committee, which had approved the works in July 2019.
“In the standing committee agenda items, works of about ₹200 crore have been mentioned, but no details on which are new works and which are ongoing. For the new works, a separate agenda item should have been put up before the board,” observed Anurag Verma. principal secretary, technical education and industry department, who is a board member and was part of the meeting. He added, “The existing academic area of the university is 4 lakh square feet, while the number of students on the campus is about 825 so the existing area is more than that required as per All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) norms. No justification has been given for the additional area.”
He even mentions that ₹85.6 crore are proposed to be spent on 34 classrooms. “Of these, 24 classrooms will have the capacity of only 60 students that’s why prima facie, this expenditure seems to be excessive,” Verma added.
Following Verma’s observations, BOG chairman SK Salwan added that all new projects of PTU should be approved from the varsity’s finance committee too. Later, the board decided that a detailed agenda item, giving full justification for all new buildings should be placed before it at the next meeting.
The proposed construction
The construction work that the building committee proposed included a 34-room lecture theatre complex at ₹85 crore. The 34 rooms included four classrooms, each for 250 students; six classrooms for 150 students each; 24 classrooms for 60 students students, and a provision of two more classrooms of 60 students each. No other facilities are mentioned.
A new residence for the V-C (University House) and for the registrar at ₹3.5 crore and ₹1.6 crore, respectively, was also proposed. A concept plan for 113 houses (of Type I-V) for ₹60 crore was also approved on the Kapurthala campus. Construction of ₹52 crore was approved on varsity campus, Kapurthala, including ₹26 crore for workshop; ₹8.9 crore for guest house and ₹10 crore for the indoor stadium.
Building smart classrooms: PTU
PTU vice-chancellor professor Ajay Kumar Sharma, who is also a member of the BOG didn’t respond to calls and messages. Registrar Sukhbir Singh Walia said he was not authorised to comment. Public relations department head at the varsity, Rajneesh Sharma, told HT over phone, “We are building smart classrooms. The projects are as per requirement. We will justify our requirement again before the BoG and hope for approval.”
