Jorhat Engineering College crying for attention
From A Correspondent
JORHAT, Oct 9 Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has gone on record saying that his
government would give the topmost priority to the technical institutions in the
State. However, the premier Jorhat Engineering College, located in his home
district itself, is practically going to ruins, allegedly due to neglect.
The only engineering institution of its kind in upper Assam, JEC came into
existence in 1960. However, lack of proper attention towards the development of
the college in the new era has reduced it to a struggling institution which
even had faced the threat of being de-recognized by All India Council of
Technical Education.
Despite passing through such turbulent days, the Congress-led State government
is yet to wake up to the genuine needs of JEC, office-bearers of Jorhat
District Students Union said. A team of the Jorhat AASU unit visited the
college recently and voiced its concern over the crumbling infrastructure
there.
Tarpaulin sheets are being used to cover the leaking roofs, JDSU general
secretary Dhrubajyoti Hazarika said. A number of computer sets have been
damaged by rainwater seeping in through the roofs, he added.
The Chief Minister had announced a Rs 2-crore package in March 2005 when
several students took ill after using contaminated water, the JDSU general
secretary recalled. Though a sum of Rs 37 lakh was released for the
construction of a water supply project, the remaining funds were never
received, Hazarika maintained. To top it all, the water supply project is not
working, he pointed out.
The State government also pledged to provide Rs 10 crore to JEC in August last
year, the student leader said, adding that not a single penny has reportedly
been received by the college authorities till date.
JDSU president Biren Saikia said that girl students have been forced to seek
accommodation elsewhere despite the existence of a hostel for them. While 21
students are staying at the girls hostel of Prince of Wales Institute of
Engineering and Technology, as many as 11 others have moved into their hostel
superintendents official quarters due to the dilapidated state of their
hostel. These girl students are staying in an unsafe environment, Saikia
stressed.
The JDSU duo reiterated that such apathy on the part of the government was
responsible for the flight of students from the State. The student body set
October 20 as the deadline for the State government to make its stand known on
the development of JEC. Otherwise, we will forced to take to the path of
agitation to restore the glory of the engineering college, the two AASU
activists warned.
There are other problems, too, which plague JEC. Sources said that as much as
40 per cent of the total area of the college has been encroached on. The Jorhat
district administration called for a survey of the landscape of JEC in 2003. A
year later, a directive was also issued by the then Jorhat Deputy Commissioner
for the eviction of encroachers.
The sources further stated that the 12th Finance Commission had awarded Rs
1107.37 crore to the State Education Department for the period 2005-2010 to
upgrade the facilities at the engineering colleges and polytechnics in the
State.
(The Assam Tribune, 10.10.2007)
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