BESU alumni renew INI status plea

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, June 7, 2007

The alumni association of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) has once again appealed to the state and central governments to declare the university an Institute of National Importance (INI) during its 150-year celebrations.
The Centre needs to pass a Bill to upgrade BESU to INI status. “The 150-year celebrations of the university will come to a close in November. We want the university to get the INI tag before that. It would be the best gift that this nation can give to this deserving institution,” said S.P. Datta, working president of the Global Alumni Association of BESU. “But if the Bill is not passed in parliament during the monsoon session, the university has no hope of becoming an INI during the 150-year celebrations.”
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has himself written to Prime Minister Manmonhan Singh to upgrade BESU to INI status, but the Centre and the state are yet to sort out the issues of governance and admission procedure.
The state government wants to ensure reservation for students of Bengal at BESU even though admissions will be done through an all-India level exam. “We do not feel students of the state need such reservations to prove their mettle. Good students will not have any problem getting into BESU even if it becomes an INI,” Datta said.
The state has also asked for participatory mode of governance even after BESU becomes a central government institution and receives grants from the human resources development ministry. “The state and central governments should settle their issues through discussion. But our university should not be deprived of the INI tag in its 150th year because of bureaucratic or diplomatic reasons,” said S. Karmakar, secretary of the association.
Members of the alumni association feel that if the university is upgraded to INI status, both the state and the university will benefit from it. “The state government gives a Rs 15-crore grant to BESU every year. If the university is upgraded to INI, it will get a grant of up to Rs 150 crore every year. The state government will then be able to give the money to other state engineering colleges for development,” said Amitava Ghoshal, founder president of the alumni association. “Like Bangalore, we too can become a technology hub if there is a central university with INI tag near the city.”
The alumni association, founded in 2005 and with over 20,000 members spread all over Indian, Japan, Canada, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK and US, has bug plans for BESU. The association plans to construct an auditorium for the university at the cost of Rs 10 crore. “The auditorium will have the capacity of accommodating 2,000 people. Once BSEU becomes an INI, it will need many such facilities for which the alumni association is always ready to help,” Datta said.
The association has announced Rs 1-lakh scholarship for students eligible for admission in BESU but without the financial support. It will also offer a Rs 5-lakh scholarship to needy students.
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