PTU-affiliated colleges remain open on Janmashtmi

While the central and Punjab government has declared Janmashtami a gazetted holiday, which means that all educational institutions, universities, banks will remain closed on August 28, a few Punjab Technical University (PTU)-affiliated colleges in the city were open on Wednesday.

Students of PTU-affiliated colleges were an upset lot, as they were asked to attend college on Wednesday, while all other educational institutes were closed to mark the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna.

A visit to the PTU website (ptu.ac.in) revealed that the university did not declare a holiday for the affiliated colleges on August 28, but there is a holiday for PTU.

Talking to Hindustan Times, Mohanbir Singh Sidhu, additional director, technical education, said, "The PTU-affiliated colleges have to follow an academic calendar and if the calendar says no holiday then colleges have to abide by it. There are many universities which are open today, as the academic calendars of universities are different from each other."

When asked about PTU being closed on Wednesday, and its affiliated colleges being opened, Sidhu expressed ignorance.

Vijay Asdhir, director, Khalsa Institute of Management and Technology, (KIMT), Civil Lines, said, "We are abiding by the academic calendar sent by the PTU, and it does not have August 28 listed as a holiday. So we did not close the college."

KNS Kang, director, of Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) and HS Singha, director of Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Model Town, had the same replies.

Despite repeated attempts, PTU V-C Rajneesh Arora was not available for comment.