Revisit of Assam Engineering College

Ranjan Kumar Padmapati

(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)

The report of the high-level inquiry committee, constituted by the Government of Assam to look into the causes behind the blood-carling accident that took the lives of 7 students of the Assam Engineering College in the night of 28th May, 2023, has just been published. The report summarily held both Principal Dr. Atul Bora and Dr. Shanka Shekhar Sarma, superintendent of hostel number-7, responsible for gradual collapse of the college discipline, being the root cause of the accident. The Committee indicted both. The principal did not implement the set of guidelines circulated by the Government in 2012 for hostel management. There are some more in the news. A serious case of gross indiscipline was surfaced recently involving a boarder of the girls’ hostel of the same college, raising eyebrows of the public. Acting Principal, Dr. Kalyan Kalita, took appropriate measures in the above case. Similar incidents escaped unpunished before, taking lenient views. The acting principal is working hard to put back the derailed college on the right track. The incident shows only a tip of an iceberg of the general atmosphere prevailing on the campus. This kind of Indiscipline cannot be viewed as a sole isolated case, but is common in many other educational institutions of Assam. In the recent past, a group of 14 students of the Guwahati Medical College hostels came out of the hostel without requisite permission at night and picked up a quarrel among them in a city bar. The Principal of the GMC is quite praiseworthy, for taking eye-opening disciplinary measures against those students, by suspending for a period of six months. Such kind of indiscipline should be nipped in the bud.

It is intended to highlight here a few perennial problems prevailing in the college other than discipline. The college was established in the year 1955; the quarters were constructed around the same time of the 66th Session of the Congress in 1958. Since then, long 65 years have been elapsed, but no proper maintenance work of all the residential quarters has been carried out, due to financial crunch in different governments. As such, the quarters are now in a very dilapidated shape. To my utter surprise, when I visited the residence of a teacher sometime before, revealed that maintenance work was to be carried out from the individual’s personal purse. It is gathered that the residential status of the college has been lost due to varied reasons, one being the short-fall of the number of teachers’ residences and dilapidated houses, for which teachers do not stay on the campus. The number of teachers’ residences is only 25 against a requirement of 100 or so. Another alarming situation is the rise of theft cases on the campus. Teachers feel unsecured in unsafe quarters. Installation of sufficient numbers of CCTVs is the urgent need of the hour. There are shortages in the number of hostel seats. The total number of students, including PG- and doctoral-courses, is around 2,000 against a hostel capacity of 950 or so. As a result, a business of paying guests or rental systems has sprung up, as an alternative preferred choice of stay. Hence it necessitates the construction of more numbers of Hostel Buildings. Exiting available seats have also not been filled up for gross indiscipline in hostels and some other managerial problems. All above reasons singularly or collectively responsible for loss of residential status. Students revealed that vacant posts of cooks, choukidars, cleaners not been filled up. As a result, mess dues are high, students bear their costs of salaries.

The number of serving teachers is 88 against the sanctioned posts of around 100. The pitiable part is, that out of 88 serving teachers, about 40–44 % are on contract basis, not on permanent rolls. The vacancies of teachers must be filled in. Actions are to be initiated to dismantle all old dilapidated quarters in a phased manner and to reconstruct a Model Campus, perfect for present-day decent living, and to bring a tranquil atmosphere for imparting education. The urgent need is to re-vamp the whole campus and re-model it. The new campus should be in line with the best educational institutions of India. There is also a need of a Community Hall, equipped with recreational facilities like health club, badminton court, T-T Table etc., for teachers’ recreation. Enough plantation drive is to be made to look at every direction lustrous green throughout the year, with different varieties of blooming fruit bearing trees. Trees will give enough shades and fruit bearing trees will attract different birds, while resident population will enjoy chirping songs of the birds will make everybody cheerful, would be a lovable campus to rejoice. The small ponds within the campus should be well taken care of, to de-silt, to keep ambiance calm and cool. To look after these, along with gardens, appointment of a Horticulturist is a must, with fund to maintain the landscape. While planning for a new campus, guidance of an experienced Landscape Architect would be of immense help. Present waterbodies in and around the college must be preserved. The solar energy installation of capacity of 1.5 MW on the top of the college building at the cost of Rs. 1.5 crore is defunct, not producing a single watt of electricity. Even some of the solar panels, have been stolen. The same may be converted to ‘on-grid mode’ with some modifications.

Though the College has been upgraded to pursue PG- and Doctoral Courses, its Laboratories are not well equipped to cater to the new need. The good news is that, recently an MoU has been signed with the IIT-G to utilize their laboratory facilities. The combined renewed efforts bore some fruits. Though the college boundary has been demarcated within a month of the accident, the construction of the boundary wall is yet to commence. The encroached portion of land, of the demarcated 1408 bighas, warrants quick eviction drive. Unscrupulous persons are selling alcohol inside the campus; these dens of alcoholics must be dismantled totally with help of police. The presence of such antisocial elements on the campus justifies, setting up a police station.