SGU body to renovate buildings

SURAT, June 17: In a break with the groupism-ridden tradition of South Gujarat University, its Syndicate has set up a committee having me...

SURAT, June 17: In a break with the groupism-ridden tradition of South Gujarat University, its Syndicate has set up a committee having members from both factions to streamline its efforts at securing donations for renovation of the university’s dilapidated buildings.

The committee will be headed by Sunil Modi, who though considered to be part of the group headed by Prof Girish Rana, at times takes positions contrary to the ones taken by the other members.

Vice-chancellor Premkumar Sharda, pro-vice-chancellor R N Shelat, Anil Goyal, Hoshang Mirza — who heads the other group — Vyara College principal Rasesh Shukla, J P Shah and Deepak Afrikawala will be the other members of the committee.

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The dilapidated state of the university’s Post-Graduate department buildings have always remained in the news for all the wrong reasons. Despite the efforts of former vice-chancellor Ashwin Kapadia to seek donations from philanthropists and industrialists of the South Gujarat region, the university had drawn a near-blank.

The appeal to prospective donors to adopt one department each had fallen on deaf ears, with less than half a dozen persons showing interest. The whole idea was put on the backburner following the cold shoulder from people, including alumni.

The buildings bad state came under sharp focus after one of the staff quarters collapsed. Luckily, the block was not inhabited by anyone as they had been moved to another block ahead of last monsoon. A couple of more blocks are on their last legs as well. This, coupled with the collapse of an overhead water tank on the university premises in 1997, made the state of buildings a major issue for some time, before being relegated to the background by the divided Syndicate.

The committee will now suggest a formula on how to go about the building’s repairs and throw light on the university’s financial position. It will also try to suggest measures that will help the university come out of the present economic morass and financial indiscipline. No time limit has been fixed for the committee to submit its report.