The state government has allotted close to Rs 2.85 crore to Jadvapur University for procuring and installing a firewall, upgrading IT infrastructure, repairing and painting external walls of the food and technology and biochemical engineering departments.
A university official said funds on this scale under capital grants, which are intended to build assets, were sanctioned after a gap of over five years.
The university will soon start work on the IT infrastructure upgrade and painting and repairing of the two department buildings, the official said.
Snehamanju Basu, registrar of the university, said over Rs 2.32 crore was sanctioned for the IT-related projects on June 21.
“On May 30 over Rs 51 lakh was sanctioned for the repair and painting of the external surface of two buildings. Work will begin soon,” Basu told The Telegraph.
The IT infrastructure upgrade has to be done through a nodal agency, the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited, said the government order that sanctioned the funds.
The external walls of the two departments were in poor shape but could not be repaired because of the university’s lack of funds, said a JU official.
The university has been reeling under a debilitating funds crunch.
An official said JU was staring at a deficit of close to Rs 30 crore under non-salary grants (maintenance of buildings and laboratories) this financial year, following depletion in financial support from the state and the central governments.
“The university’s own revenue generation is bare minimum. Our finance officer, Gourkrishna Pattanayak, last year proposed a hike in students’ fee, which has remained static since 2000. But the then vice-chancellor, Suranjan Das, whose tenure ended on May 31, was opposed to any fee hike in a public institution like JU. So, the proposal could not be implemented,” a senior official of the university said.
Last September, Pattanayak had said that JU’s fees were the lowest among universities and institutions across the country.