Ganderbal: The 31st Meeting of the University Building Committee (UBC) of the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) was held with Vice Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah in chair, at the varsity’s Tulmulla Campus here on Saturday.
Addressing the participants comprising, Technical Committee Members, senior functionaries of various administrative departments of Ganderbal and representatives of different construction agencies, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Farooq Ahmad Shah, said the Pre-Engineered Building (PEB-I) at Tulmulla is nearing its completion and would be handed over to the varsity by the executing agency NBCC very soon. “The university will shift several departments to the PEB-I at designated campus immediately after getting its possession,” he said. Prof. Shah said the members of the expert Technical Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, and headed by Prof. K S Rao, visited the university site yesterday, to oversee the ongoing geo-technical investigation. “The members after receiving the data and results about both the Geo-Physical, Geo-Technical investigations and soil results will prepare a comprehensive report, which would be then submitted to the Ministry of Education, so that further necessary action would be taken vis-à-vis construction of the permanent structures,” he further said. Prof. Shah thanked Prof. Rao for the continuous guidance and support in the varsity’s endeavour to construct the structures at the Tulmulla campus.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. K S Rao, said the primary objectives of conducting the detailed Geo-Physical and Geo-Technical investigations were to suggest measures to reduce the foundation cost of the buildings and make it financially viable. “In addition to the aforementioned investigations, the Committee will go through the soil testing reports and other required parameters for building construction, before suggesting the ways for making sustainable foundation,” he said, adding that as the Kashmir valley falls in seismic zone-V, due and utmost care would be taken to make the foundations strong and resistant to the earthquakes. Prof. Rao, said, the water bodies at the university site, which are a great attribute of the campus, will be channelised appropriately, to beautify the varsity. He assured the Vice Chancellor and the participants that the comprehensive final report would be submitted to the Ministry at an earliest so that construction on the campus starts immediately.
Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar, who took up the agenda items in the meeting, said the university is progressing on the academic’s front and more than 3500 students and scholars are pursuing education in different programmes offered by the varsity. He said that during this academic session, the university is conducting admission to the programmes through Central Universities Entrance Test (CUET) to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Prof. Zargar said that with the increasing number of students, scholars, and staff (both teaching and administrative), the need for permanent structures with all basic facilities at the Tulmulla campus has increased manifold. He added that the work on the university township for the staff and students at Watlar Ganderbal would be started with CPWD very soon.
During the meeting, several important decisions were made, with regard to the constructions.
Finance Officer, Prof. Fayaz Ahmad Nikka proposed the vote of thanks.