Patna: Darbhanga House, which accommodates the postgraduate departments of Patna University, will soon get a facelift.

The Patna University administration has received an allotment letter from the education department under which the government has sanctioned Rs 2.32 crore for the renovation of Darbhanga House.

N.K. Jha, the Patna University dean of students' welfare, said: "The renovation of Darbhanga House will be carried out by Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation (BSEIDC). The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.32 crore for renovation and construction of the old heritage building."

The Patna University will submit a proposal to the BSEIDC on the construction work that has to be carried out on priority. BSEIDC is the education department wing which carries out construction and renovation work of schools, colleges and other buildings.

According to the PU proposal, a conference hall to organise seminars and workshops will have to be built. Darbhanga House has no conference hall.

In the absence of a seminar/conference hall, postgraduate departments running from the campus are left with no other choice but to organise seminars in their classrooms.

Students are happy that Darbhanga House will get a facelift. Shashibhushan, a postgraduate economics student, said: "Because of inadequate number of rooms, classes are being held in shifts. Classrooms get overcrowded if conferences and seminars are conducted in them."

Darbhanga House, which was earlier known as Nav Lakha Bhavan, was the palace constructed by the Maharaja of Darbhanga on the banks of the Ganga. In 1952, the family donated it to Patna University.

Around 18 postgraduate and over a dozen self-financing courses run from the heritage building. Under the Darbhanga renovation plan, a canteen and a parking bay will be built on its premises. As postgraduate classes at Darbhanga House are conducted from 8am to 5pm, students have to depend on roadside eateries in the absence of a canteen.

Ankita, a postgraduate sociology student, said: "Many a time, classes are held from morning till 2pm. In such a situation we don't even get a cup of tea."

There are more than 3,000 students at various postgraduate and self-financing courses at Darbhanga House.