UGC's Rs 1.8cr to Patna University for books, equipment

PATNA: Patna University (PU) colleges and postgraduate departments are likely to get a facelift soon. Different funding agencies as well as the state government have extended their helping hands to the university and its allied institutions in ensuring their infrastructural development.
Even though the UGC has not yet finalized the quantum of grants to be sanctioned to different universities for their infrastructural development during the current 12th Five-Year Plan, it has sanctioned a sum of Rs 1.80 crore to PU for the purchase of books and equipment.Besides, it has also sanctioned handsome grants for coaching SC and ST category students and for the implementation of other merged schemes, said PU development officer Sanjay Kumar Sinha.
Sinha said the grants for construction of new buildings and other development schemes of the university would be sanctioned by the UGC shortly. PU has been striving hard to complete all its pending projects sanctioned by the UGC during the 11th Five-Year Plan, he said.
Meanwhile, the department of science and technology, government of India, is also likely to soon sanction handsome grants to PU and its four constituent colleges - Patna Science College, B N College, Magadh Mahila College and Patna Women's College - for strengthening their science departments. While the university would get a sum of Rs 1.40 crore, each selected college would get Rs 50 lakh for the purchase of equipment, said Patna Science College principal Arun Kumar Sinha.
The grants are likely to be released by the first week of March. Sinha said the college has already been sanctioned a sum of Rs 25 lakh by the UGC for its infrastructural development during the 12th Plan. Besides, the state government has already started repair of the old buildings of the college, he said.