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Kolhan University
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Where there’s no will, there’s no way.
The tweaked saying sums up the sloth of Kolhan University’s constituent colleges that seem least bothered about improving infrastructure even when financial help is at hand.
Peeling plaster, broken benches and dusty are a common sight in most of the 14 constituent cradles under the varsity. Last month, vice chancellor Salil Kumar Roy had asked principals of these colleges to submit individual development proposals latest by August 25. But, barring Jamshedpur Women’s College — which is an autonomous constituent — no other cradle has sent project suggestions, claimed Roy.
“Though academic infrastructure such as classrooms, laboratories and libraries are in a shambles at many of these colleges, they failed to draw up proposals for sheer lack of interest. The deadline was August 25 and we received only one proposal. This speaks volumes for dedication of college heads and is the main reason behind frequent student unrest in the Kolhan region,” the vice chancellor said.
According to varsity norms, every deserving college could have claimed a minimum corpus of Rs 15 lakh for infrastructure development this session. Jamshedpur Women’s College alone made wise use of the opportunity. It has proposed a canteen and extension of the Shiksha Bhavan (the BEd building) at an estimated cost of Rs 72 lakh. Principal Shukla Mahanty said they had sent their proposal soon after meeting Roy.
“The plan is to come up with the third and fourth floor of the existing BEd building. The canteen will offer students and teachers a place to unwind,” she added. Roy said that the amount would be disbursed soon after some necessary formalities were completed.
Not only have the other constituent colleges been too lazy to draw up proposals, most of them have also failed to do something least cumbersome as floating an official website. The varsity had asked all its 28 cradles (14 constituent and 14 affiliated colleges) to come up with websites for better communication and more transparency. But, only six colleges have honoured the directive. When confronted, principal of Ghatshila College Sheo Sagar Pandey claimed that his cradle had a website, but he fumbled for an answer when asked about the URL address. “We do have a website, but I am unaware of the address,” he said. He quickly added that the infrastructure proposal would be sent soon.
Pandey’s counterpart at JLN College, Chakradharpur, Nageshwar Pradhan too admitted that they had not sent a proposal yet. “But, we will do so soon. There has been some delay because of examinations,” he said.
University officials, however, vehemently denied having received any proposal except for the one from Jamshedpur Women’s College.
Vice chancellor Roy said he now planned to convene one-on-one meetings with principals of the 13 colleges and discuss the issues that stopped them from drawing up individual project reports.
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