IIT Gandhinagar confers ‘Long Service Award’ on 57 employees

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar on April 16 conferred its ‘Long Service Award’ on a total of 57 teaching and non-teaching staff in a bid to recognise their service to the institution, it said in a statement.

Sudhir K Jain, founding director of IIT Gandhinagar and incumbent vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University was the chief guest at the ceremony and presented the awards to the winners.

Speaking on the occasion, Jain recalled his days at IIT Gandhinagar and how it started with limited resources.

“This is a very special and nostalgic occasion for me. With limited infrastructure, the initial faculty and staff worked extremely hard to develop the Institute. Over the years, IIT Gandhinagar has built a very inclusive work environment and a culture of mutual trust that sets it apart from many of its peers. In the years ahead, I expect IIT Gandhinagar to emerge as an Institute with societal impact as a result of the preparatory work it has done so far,” he said.

Amit Prashant, officiating director, IIT Gandhinagar, congratulated all the awardees in his welcome address. “We have done a lot of exciting and path-breaking things together with the leadership of professor Jain, and this is an occasion to celebrate it. The journey to take this institute to the vision that we have thought for it, in the long run, shall continue. Let’s keep moving and work even harder in that direction,” he said.

Sharing his thoughts upon receiving the award, Jaison Manjaly, Jasubhai Memorial Chair Professor and head, Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Gandhinagar, who was the first faculty to join the Institute in 2008, said, “I feel privileged and excited to be able to contribute to an Institute which has set many benchmarks for educational Institutes in the country. This also adds a great sense of responsibility to take forward the culture and values of the Institute that has been collectively built over the years. I am looking forward to contributing to the institute in more ways.”

Another recipient of the award, Rameshbhai Vankar, workshop mechanic at IIT Gandhinagar, said, “I feel a sense of satisfaction that I could contribute in building the mechanical engineering workshop for this Institute from scratch. We have come a long way from our days on the VGEC campus to now when we have one of the best infrastructures. The journey has been a great learning experience.”