PATNA: The Patna University (PU) will soon have its new administrative and academic blocks having ultramodern facilities as the state government has sanctioned handsome grants for its campus development.
PU vice-chancellor Girish Kumar Choudhary told this newspaper on Wednesday that G+11 academic block would be constructed at a cost of Rs88 crore and a G+9 administrative block at a cost of Rs58 crore.
Both these blocks, the VC said, would be constructed by the Bihar Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation in an area of about five acres of land between the present VC lodge at Patna College and Krishna Ghat. The new administrative block would replace the existing office of PU. The old building, which happens to be of heritage importance, would accommodate the newly started vocational courses, he said.
Choudhary said the new administrative block would house offices of all the deans, placement cell, IT cell, research centre, evaluation centre and auditorium besides the main university office. The new academic block shall accommodate all the postgraduate departments presently located in the congested Darbhanga House complex. The Darbhanga House complex would then accommodate Vanijya Mahavidyalaya (presently located on Patna College premises) and the postgraduate department of applied economics and commerce. In due course, the commerce wing of PU would be shifted to its own spacious campus at Saidpur complex, he said.
The state government has also sanctioned Rs 2.84 crore to PU for renovation and modernization of its historic Wheeler Senate House. The university campus along with Patna College and Patna Science College would be completely Wi-Fi enabled with a grant of Rs8 crore sanctioned by the Union information technology ministry, he added.
PU development officer Parimal Kumar Khan said the university will soon have an advanced research centre and an international hostel with the grants sanctioned by the government. The research centre would be housed in a G+2 building to be constructed in an area of 10,812 sq.ft. on Patna Science College grounds (opposite physics department building) at an estimated cost of Rs 5.5 crore. This centre would have sufficient accommodation for laboratories, data centre, conference halls, faculty rooms, store, and cafeteria. It would get a sum of Rs 2.5 crore for the purchase of equipment needed for the labs, he said.
The international hostel would be constructed in an area of 15,742 sq.ft. at an estimated cost of Rs4 crore (sanctioned by the state higher education council under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksh Abhiyan). The hostel would have a G+3 structure with a common room and dining hall on the ground floor and 21 rooms on the above three floors. All the rooms would have attached toilets and kitchens and would be fully furnished, Khan added.
