Special Cell of Works Department, too, on the cards
ALLAHABAD UNIVERSITY (AU) has decided to create a fully-staffed and equipped special cell of the Works Department and also prepare a comprehensive Master Plan.
The plan is being set up a mechanism to ensure effective and efficient utilisation of the recently received Rs 40 crore Development Grant.
For the purpose, the AU Vice-Chancellor Prof Rajen Harshe has instructed the University Engineer Navin Kumar Singh to work out a suitable structure for the special cell and get it approved from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The cell, it is being planned, will play an important role in the next few years when the mega development projects are formulated and executed at war footing.
The decision to create the special cell of the Works Department was taken at the April 29 meeting of the AU Planning and Development Board held in the Committee Room of the VC's office and was chaired by Prof Harshe himself.
The varsity authorities have decided to treat the latest UGC released development Grant of Rs 40 crore as the first instalment of a larger grant to be received over a period of next few years and plan to utilise it with the proper dialogue with the UGC to accept that part of the grant will go in projects with gestation period extending beyond the 2006-07 financial year.
{{/usCountry}}The varsity authorities have decided to treat the latest UGC released development Grant of Rs 40 crore as the first instalment of a larger grant to be received over a period of next few years and plan to utilise it with the proper dialogue with the UGC to accept that part of the grant will go in projects with gestation period extending beyond the 2006-07 financial year.
{{/usCountry}}The varsity has also decided to entrust the task of performing the initial ground-work and identifying the short gestation and long gestation projects to a sub-committee of the AU Planning and Development Board already in existence and being headed by Prof Janak Pandey.
The move is in accordance with the AU's plan to identify development projects under two categories— short term and long term— with the short-term projects to be taken up immediately and completed within the current financial year while the long-term projects relating to development projects spread over more than a year.
Separate packages of projects would be worked out under the initiative with the rider that as part of the long gestation projects, the varsity will focus on creating landmark buildings and structures across the campus.
The sub-committee under Prof Janak Pandey has been instructed to meet and do the needful at an early date so that the matter can be finalised at the very next meeting of the AU Planning and Development Board preferably within a week.
Realising the need for a comprehensive Master Plan, the varsity authorities have also decided to avail the services of architects for preparing the Master Plan and undertake preservation work on the AU heritage buildings.
The work is to be carried out with the active involvement of the experts of the Advanced School of Planning and Architecture and government institutions so as to involve the best talent in the exercise.