E-Paper
PEC has always risen to needs of nation, says President Kovind
During PEC centenary celebration, President asks engineering institute and its alumni to act as mentors and collaborate with other universities of the country
President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said that it is an honour to know that Punjab Engineering College (PEC) has always risen to the needs of the nation.
Kovind was speaking during the centenary celebration ceremony held at PEC on Tuesday. PEC completed its hundred years of existence on November 9.
The President said that in the early 1960s, when it was felt that our country needed the services of aeronautical engineers, the Indian Air Force had approached PEC.
“It was through the joint efforts with IISc that PEC created history as being the first engineering college to give India its first batch of 17 graduate aeronautical engineers in 1964,” he said.
The President unveiled a special postage stamp containing images of PEC’s campus in 1921, originally Mughalpura Technical College in Lahore, and PEC’s present campus, marking the completion of 100 years of the institute.
Kovind said that when the foundations of an institute have such a glorious and inspiring past, its students are bound to have higher ambitions in mind. Such ambitions were personified in Dr Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut-engineer and the first woman of Indian origin to travel in space.
“I was pleasantly surprised to know that during the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic, PEC students built robots that could go into isolation wards and deliver food, medicine and other supplies to patients,” he said.
The President also said that he would expect institutes like the PEC and its competent alumni to act as mentors and collaborate with other universities of the country.
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit said: “Over the years, PEC has always provided future generations with extraordinary facilities and resources. It has been a guiding light for many young intellectuals and has produced some of the most refined talents this world has ever seen.”
The President also inaugurated a newly constructed centenary hall to mark the milestone besides a new semiconductor research centre. He also laid the foundation stone of a hostel, which will house 600 students and will be a new addition to the four existing boys’ and two girls’ hostels on the campus.
