Citing inability to commence BA Economics (Hons.) classes at the newly-opened building, owing to delay in the commissioning of the ₹54-crore electrical powerhouse project on the campus, the Maharaja’s College authorities have sought speedy action by the Public Works Department (PWD) on the matter.
The project was part of initiatives undertaken by the college governing council utilising the ₹2-crore fund received under the Centre’s Rashtriya Uchathar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in 2015.
“Our efforts to ensure power supply to the new building have failed as it could not be made possible from the existing distribution network. A common powerhouse will have solved the issue. We had deposited the money quoted by the buildings and electrical division of the PWD one-and-a-half-years ago,” said P. K. Raveendran, chairman of the governing council.
Meanwhile, the college authorities pointed out that December 31 was the deadline for the institution to submit the utilisation report on work undertaken using RUSA assistance received in 2015. Of the ₹54 lakh set apart for the powerhouse project, ₹45 lakh was earmarked for the mini sub-station, while ₹9 lakh was set aside for the building.
The college had deposited ₹6.5 lakh of the ₹9 lakh one-and-a-half years ago. The PWD authorities had revised the budget to ₹9 lakh, and the remaining ₹2.5 lakh was also deposited, officials said.
Senior PWD (building division) officials said no one had come forward to undertake the work when tenders were floated initially. “We have now re-tendered the work. Moreover, the college authorities paid up the remaining ₹2.5 lakh of the ₹9 lakh for the powerhouse building only two months ago. We had informed them of the revised budget at the stage of preparing the estimate itself,” they added. They said they were aware of the RUSA deadline and hoped to complete the work in three months after awarding the work.