Santiniketan, Jan. 3: About 10 months after Tagore?s Nobel medal went missing from a Visva-Bharati museum, the University Grants Commission has sanctioned Rs 6.5 crore for a security overhaul on the varsity campus.

The university had appealed for the money in the wake of the theft last March that exposed glaring gaps in its security arrangement for priceless archives.

?We have received a letter from the UGC informing us about the decision on the grant. We expect the first instalment in a week,? Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Sujit Basu said here today.

After the heist, the university had set up a committee to explore ways to step up security on the premises. The panel suggested several measures to plug the loopholes and said the exercise would cost about Rs 10 crore.

The UGC had sent a two-member team to Santiniketan last September to inquire into the security arrangements and requirements after Visva-Bharati sought Rs 10 crore for the project.

In its letter to Basu, the UGC has said it has already released Rs 1.2 crore. Last month, the commission offered the Rs 6.5-crore grant and asked the university if it was ready to accept it.

The VC said: ?We have accepted the grant. After we utilise it, we will ask for more.?

Visva-Bharati officials said the money would be put to use immediately. The university plans to set up a three-tier system on its Santiniketan and Sriniketan premises. Besides boundary walls around enclosures that house valuables, including manuscripts and paintings, it plans to install closed-circuit TV cameras and other gadgets.

The number of personnel manning the campus would also be increased. The Uttarayan complex, which includes the Rabindra Bhavan Museum from where the memorabilia were stolen, is now guarded by two armed sentries, security officer Arup Sil said. Three unarmed guards assist them. There are only two guards to keep vigil on the complex during the visitors? rush and one of them is posted at the entrance.

?We need to tighten arrangements immediately because a gold duplicate of the medal and its bronze replica are likely to be handed over to us in mid-January,? said Basu.

The CBI, which is probing the heist, is yet to make a breakthrough and so the Swedish Academy has arranged the duplicates.