Infrastructural facilities in higher education sector fails to build up

Signifying the poor performance of the J&K government in upgrading the infrastructural facilities in higher education sector, only 43 percent of construction work going on in colleges has been completed over the past eight years.

Officials in the Higher Education Department (HED) said around 41 colleges were approved under centrally sponsored schemes and state plan since 2008, out of which work on 23 colleges is yet to be completed.

As per the official documents, 95 percent work on Government Degree College (GDC) Uttrasoo in Anantnag has been completed since 2011 and the students are still taking classes from make shift arrangements.

The college was approved at a project cost of Rs 12.96 crore out of which 10.30 crore has been released so far.

Similarly, Government of India in 2008 approved a GDC for Kokernag area under prime Ministers Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) at a project cost of Rs 12.87 crore however, the college is yet to be made fully functional. “Finishing work is still incomplete on the college buildings,” reads the official document.

As per the official figures J&K state has a total of 96 colleges – 50 in Kashmir and 46 in Jammu out of which 65 are functioning in their permanent buildings while as work on 31 colleges is yet to be completed.

“Out of these 31 colleges, around 6-7 colleges were handed over to the college authorities to start their courses. The work on these five colleges is incomplete but were made functional,” the officials said.

Construction work of GDC Gurez has been completed up to second floor while as finishing is in progress. The project cost of the college is Rs 14.74 crore out of which 13.54 crore stands released as on March 2017.

The colleges which are sans any permanent buildings are functioning from make-shift arrangements or rented accommodations over the past many years.

Pertinently, New Women College Srinagar was approved in 2008 under PMRP and is functioning from temporary accommodation in Amar Singh (AS) College. GDC Baghe-Dilawar Khan in Srinagar is also functioning from three rooms of MP Higher Secondary School Srinagar. Baghi Dilawar Khan College was approved under the state plan for Srinagar. The project cost of the college is Rs 11.45 crore out of which 2.4 crore stands released against the college for construction work. “Foundation work on the college has been completed and pillars upto the lintel level have been also raised,” official documents reveal.

Similarly Women’s’ college Kupwara is also functioning from Government Middle School over the past many years, affecting the academic schedule of the students enrolled in the college.

As per the official documents, the HED has a set a target to complete work on 16 out of 23 Colleges, which are working in make shift arrangements, during the financial year 2017-18. “The other seven colleges will be completed in the year 2018-19,” the official documents state.

As per the official figures only 60 percent work on GDC Nobra and GDC Zanskar has been completed till date. The project cost of GDC Nobra is 10.78 crore out of 5.85 crore stands released till March 2017. “The project cost of GDC Zanskar is Rs 10.48 crore of which 5.85 crore has been released,” the official documents reveal.

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