Five decades on, compact campus eludes Patna University

PATNA: Even though Patna University (PU) is the seventh oldest university of the Indian subcontinent, it does not have a compact campus, causing much inconvenience to its students and faculty members.
With its different constituent colleges, university departments and institutes located in different parts of the city, the university cannot dream of having a compact campus.While Patna Women’s College is located in west Patna, Patna Law College lies in the eastern part.
Even the postgraduate departments of different faculties are not located at one place or in continuity. The department of history is located at Darbhanga House, while sociology department functions at Vanijya Mahavidyalaya. The geography department functions at Patna College, the law department is situated at Rani Ghat and the department of education runs at Langertoli. All the departments of science faculty are located on the premises of Patna Science College.
Darbhanga House, which accommodates as many as 20 departments of the faculties of humanities and social sciences, happens to be the single largest centre of postgraduate teaching and research in the university. And, unfortunately, this block is the most neglected one.
The accommodation in this complex has always been less than the actual requirement for classrooms, libraries, reading room, staff rooms and students’ common room. The problem of space is so acute that teachers have to face difficulty in engaging classes as per timetable due to non-availability of space.
The ambitious plan of the university to have its campus in continuity from Patna Law College in the east to Magadh Mahila College in the west has not materialized as yet. As early as 1960, the then Patna Improvement Trust had, in its Greater Patna plan, envisaged a compact academic campus of PU. Under the plan, all the private land and buildings located north of Ashok Raj Path were to be acquired and given to PU. Government buildings like the collectorate and the civil court were to be shifted to some suitable place near Kumhrar in south Patna.
Former PU vice-chancellor M Mohiuddin suggested that a moderately high wall to the north of Ashok Raj Path should be erected to insulate the university campus from the market. All the private buildings north of Ashok Raj Path (within the university area) should be removed.
He further observed that the Saidpur complex should be developed to serve as a contiguous campus of PU. For this, it would be necessary to acquire some area to connect the Saidpur complex with the main campus and to widen some link roads and lanes, he added.