5 years on, work on F’bad college building hangs fire

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 24

The construction of a new building of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College, the largest government college in Faridabad district, has been hanging fire due to delays and the issue of revision of its budget. The foundation of the project worth Rs 26 crore was laid in 2019-20.

When the existing building of the college was declared unfit in 2016, the authorities had announced that the new building would be ready within two years. However, due to various factors, including the Covid pandemic and inadequate funds, the work was disrupted.

Rs 10 crore needed to finish project

The demand for additional ~10 crore has been raised with the authorities concerned. The pending work will be completed within six months of the release of the funds. —Pradeep Sindhu, Executive engineer, PWD

The Public Works Department (PWD), which released the tender for the work, has raised the demand for additional Rs 10 crore, as the construction cost has escalated.

As the construction work is still stalled, the new building is unlikely to become operational from the next academic session. Also, the budget sought is not expected to be released in the next three months, sources said.

NIT legislator Neeraj Sharma blamed the policies of the successive government for the delay and said the education sector had been a victim of neglect for the past 10 years. “There have been two Education Ministers — Mool Chand Sharma, MLA from Ballabgarh, for about two years, and now Seema Trikha, MLA from Badkhal, but the situation has not changed,” he added.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru College is one of the oldest and largest educational institutions that came up about 50 years ago. Union Minister of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal Gurjar is one of the alumni of this college. The construction work of the six-storey building, having a capacity of 7,000 students, was around 80 per cent complete when it came to a halt. The new building is expected to start only after the formation of the new government, says Dr MK Gupta, a retired principal of Government College.

Pradeep Sindhu, Executive Engineer, PWD, said that the demand for additional funds had been raised with the authorities concerned. The pending work would be completed within six months of the release of the funds.