Hindustan Times: Pune: Tuesday, 15 November 2022.
A query filed by the Students’ Helping Hand organisation under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that despite the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) having taken the initial steps to establish its research centre at Leh-Ladakh in October 2019, in association with Ladakh member of parliament (MP) Jamyang Tsering, the centre is still not functional after the passage of so much time. While the then SPPU vice-chancellor Nitin Karmalkar had worked on this project, the RTI query revealed that not a single admission or project has been carried out through this centre. As such, the Students’ Helping Hand organisation has criticised the SPPU administration for announcing big schemes and not implementing them.
Kuldeep Ambekar, president, Students’ Helping Hand, said, “The SPPU administration and its officials are famous for only announcing big projects but when it comes to implementing them, nothing is done on ground. The same happened in case of the Leh-Ladakh centre so we filed a RTI to get details of this project which was announced in 2019. We can understand that in 2020, there was the pandemic but thereafter too, nothing was done and not a single admission was carried out. The centre is not even functional to begin with.”
The announcement in 2019 was part of the SPPU’s innovative, outreach, communication and academic development programme for the then newly-created union territories in areas such as glaciers, geology, natural resources, organic farming, herbal medicinal plants and energy.
The SPPU’s reply to the RTI query filed by Ambekar only stated that a committee had been formed to implement the project and expenses of Rs630 were provided for lunch for two members who had come to visit the SPPU for the meeting. Whereas the rest of the details regarding the Leh-Ladakh centre are yet to come from the deputy registrar’s office and two meetings have already been held in this regard. “For setting up this centre, a special committee was formed by the university and the management council had given its approval and at the time, the then vice-chancellor (VC) had met the Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering to discuss the matter but nothing happened after that. Not a single admission or project has been carried out at this centre till now,” Ambekar said.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Pande, chairman, committee formed to implement the Leh-Ladakh centre plan, said, “The proposal to start operations and research works at the Ladakh centre has been submitted from our side but it has not yet gotten approval. Still, we will run a check on its current status and try to resolve the issue.”
A query filed by the Students’ Helping Hand organisation under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that despite the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) having taken the initial steps to establish its research centre at Leh-Ladakh in October 2019, in association with Ladakh member of parliament (MP) Jamyang Tsering, the centre is still not functional after the passage of so much time. While the then SPPU vice-chancellor Nitin Karmalkar had worked on this project, the RTI query revealed that not a single admission or project has been carried out through this centre. As such, the Students’ Helping Hand organisation has criticised the SPPU administration for announcing big schemes and not implementing them.
Kuldeep Ambekar, president, Students’ Helping Hand, said, “The SPPU administration and its officials are famous for only announcing big projects but when it comes to implementing them, nothing is done on ground. The same happened in case of the Leh-Ladakh centre so we filed a RTI to get details of this project which was announced in 2019. We can understand that in 2020, there was the pandemic but thereafter too, nothing was done and not a single admission was carried out. The centre is not even functional to begin with.”
The announcement in 2019 was part of the SPPU’s innovative, outreach, communication and academic development programme for the then newly-created union territories in areas such as glaciers, geology, natural resources, organic farming, herbal medicinal plants and energy.
The SPPU’s reply to the RTI query filed by Ambekar only stated that a committee had been formed to implement the project and expenses of Rs630 were provided for lunch for two members who had come to visit the SPPU for the meeting. Whereas the rest of the details regarding the Leh-Ladakh centre are yet to come from the deputy registrar’s office and two meetings have already been held in this regard. “For setting up this centre, a special committee was formed by the university and the management council had given its approval and at the time, the then vice-chancellor (VC) had met the Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering to discuss the matter but nothing happened after that. Not a single admission or project has been carried out at this centre till now,” Ambekar said.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Pande, chairman, committee formed to implement the Leh-Ladakh centre plan, said, “The proposal to start operations and research works at the Ladakh centre has been submitted from our side but it has not yet gotten approval. Still, we will run a check on its current status and try to resolve the issue.”
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